Pole Star

[Shemjaza]

So how do they usually respond to this very poignant question?

Often either ignoring the question or claiming that it's caused by lensing effects from the transparent substance of the dome.

(Lensing isn't convincing due to the same stars being visible across the southern hemisphere.)

 

[Radrook]

Often either ignoring the question or claiming that it's caused by lensing effects from the transparent substance of the dome.

(Lensing isn't convincing due to the same stars being visible across the southern hemisphere.)

So you find flaw with the mathematics they provide to back that up?

 

[Radrook]

The flat Earth model would also need to explain precession.

Precession: Pole star shifts, celestial age

 

[Shemjaza]

So you find flaw with the mathematics they provide to back that up?

I think you over estimate the detail that most flat Earth proponents are willing to go to.

The encounters I've had tend to offer the suggestion of mathematics, but no hard figures. For example that idea that the Sun "sets" due to it being blocked by mountain ranges, without using the trigonometry that would imply the Sun was only a few kilometers away.

 

[Radrook]

I know what you mean. It's 11:34 here too so as soon as I finish my glass of wine I shall be retiring.

As long as the glass of wine doesn't finish you you are OK.

 

[Radrook]

I think you over estimate the detail that most flat Earth proponents are willing to go to.

The encounters I've had tend to offer the suggestion of mathematics, but no hard figures. For example that idea that the Sun "sets" due to it being blocked by mountain ranges, without using the trigonometry that would imply the Sun was only a few kilometers away.

Perhaps you are right.

BTW
They also appear to be unaware that our position on the ground limits our view to a comparatively near horizon in which curvature remains undetectable. So the lack of a slanting downwards as they visually inspect the horizon from that vantage point is erroneously misunderstood to indicate flatness.

 

[Radrook]

The ancients didn't know Polaris was "north", just that it was fixed in the heavens (as far as they knew) and thus was useful for navigation.

We won't have a new north pole star for more like 15,000 years and the last time the magnetic pole shifted (which is different from the celestial pole) as like 700,000 years ago.

Calculations say that we are due for another magnetic pole reversal at any moment now and that there are strong indications that it is currently under way.

Magnetic north shifting by 40 miles a year, might signal pole reversal

 

[Armoured]

Finding South with the Southern Cross is a superior navigation tool to finding North with Polaris. Finding south using the Southern Cross

 

[JackRT]

Calculations say that we are due for another magnetic pole reversal at any moment now and that there are strong indications that it is currently under way.

Magnetic north shifting by 40 miles a year, might signal pole reversal

A magnetic pole reversal would not affect the rotation of the earth one bit. The pole star would be the same. Compasses would be quite messed up. For the period of time that the magnetic field is extremely weak or non-existent, the earth could receive quite a whack of cosmic radiation. This might result in an increase in cancers and even in the mutation rate.

 

[Radrook]

A magnetic pole reversal would not affect the rotation of the earth one bit. The pole star would be the same. Compasses would be quite messed up. For the period of time that the magnetic field is extremely weak or non-existent, the earth could receive quite a whack of cosmic radiation. This might result in an increase in cancers and even in the mutation rate.

I never claimed that a magnetic pole reversal would affect the rotation of the Earth.

 

[Radrook]

Finding South with the Southern Cross is a superior navigation tool to finding North with Polaris. Finding south using the Southern Cross

Good to know these things if one is lost at night. Otherwise one is limited to using the sun by day.
Sun sets in West, rises in East. So if we face East towards the rising sun, then south is towards our right and north is towards our left. But if we face west towards the setting sun, then north is to our right and south is to our left.

 

[Shemjaza]

Good to know these things if one is lost at night. Otherwise one is limited to using the sun by day.
Sun sets in West, rises in East. So if we face East towards the rising sun, then south is towards our right and north is towards our left. But if we face west towards the setting sun, then north is to our right and south is to our left.

The stars are more reliable then the sun, given how much it varies over the year. (Especially up in the far North where most of the people on this forum live.)

 

[JackRT]

The stars are more reliable then the sun, given how much it varies over the year. (Especially up in the far North where most of the people on this forum live.)

In the high Arctic in the summer the sun sets in the north --- if it sets at all.

 

[Radrook]

The stars are more reliable then the sun, given how much it varies over the year. (Especially up in the far North where most of the people on this forum live.)

That is true.

 

[Radrook]

In the high Arctic in the summer the sun sets in the north --- if it sets at all.

Land of the midnight sun!

The Altafjord in Alta, Norway, bathed in the midnight sun.


Midnight sun - Wikipedia

 

[Shemjaza]

Land of the midnight sun!

The Altafjord in Alta, Norway, bathed in the midnight sun.


Midnight sun - Wikipedia

As an Australian, I found both winter and summer in the Arctic impossibly strange and confusing.

 

[Radrook]

As an Australian, I found both winter and summer in the Arctic impossibly strange and confusing.

In what way?

 

[Shemjaza]

In what way?

Even in the furthest south of mainland Australia there isn't a massive difference between the length of day and night. Melbourne is as far south as San Francisco is north. If you look at a globe the north is considerably more crowded then the south.

So when travelling having the sun rise at 11am and set at 4pm over Tromso, in Norway then a few years later have in the sun still up at 11:30pm in Rovaniemi, in Finland was completely disorienting.

 

[Radrook]

Even in the furthest south of mainland Australia there isn't a massive difference between the length of day and night. Melbourne is as far south as San Francisco is north. If you look at a globe the north is considerably more crowded then the south.

So when travelling having the sun rise at 11am and set at 4pm over Tromso, in Norway then a few years later have in the sun still up at 11:30pm in Rovaniemi, in Finland was completely disorienting.

Understandable since for us that would be very unusual. I imagine that people who have been raised in such far northern places would find our sun setting and rising approx. every twelve hours as it does for most people disorienting.

 

[USincognito]

Even in the furthest south of mainland Australia there isn't a massive difference between the length of day and night. Melbourne is as far south as San Francisco is north. If you look at a globe the north is considerably more crowded then the south.

So when travelling having the sun rise at 11am and set at 4pm over Tromso, in Norway then a few years later have in the sun still up at 11:30pm in Rovaniemi, in Finland was completely disorienting.

From age 11 to 16 I lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and then Germany which was even farther north. In July 1983 we traveled to Narvik, Norway and my parents woke me and my brother up in the middle of the night to see that it looked like midday. Since 1984 I've lived in Alabama and Texas would love to experience a condensed day or night again. (I returned to Michigan in 2005, but that was late August and the day/night wasn't as stark as June or December.)