This is referred to by flat-earthers as atmospheric lensing. (2) Another claim is that there is an atmospheric effect that makes the Sun and Moon look bigger as they get farther away, resulting in them appearing to be the same size.

On any given night the Moon stays effectively the same size as it moves across the sky. Try it yourself by holding your arm out and comparing the Moon to your little fingernail. It can be tricky with the Sun if you don't have a solar filter or solar telescope, but anyone can easily measure the size of the Moon.

This is just silly-anyone can measure its size. (1) Some claim that the Sun does get smaller as it gets near the horizon. There are two common counter arguments from flat-earthers: This is the same for the Moon, and even easier to see with the naked eye. Instead you can see that its size remains constant until it moves below the horizon bottom first. If the sunset was caused by perspective the Sun would gradually appear smaller until it became too small to see at or near the horizon. Any tiny changes in size due to refraction or Earth's rotation are too small to see. However the Sun does not get smaller-it stays practically the same size wherever it is in the sky. The streetlights get smaller as they get farther away, in accordance with how perspective works. There is a problem with the perspective explanation. The flat Earth model states that this is an illusion the second photo aims to show how this illusion is caused by perspective in the same way that streetlights appear to get closer to the horizon as they get farther away. The time-lapse photo below shows the Sun setting.

Parallel lines appear to converge into the distance.Closer objects appear larger than more distant objects.Perspective is how three-dimensional scenes are represented on a two-dimension surface and seen by the human eye.The globe Earth model says the Sun sets below the horizon because the Earth is rotating the flat Earth model says that the Sun is always above ground and only appears to set due to perspective.īefore we look at the details, here are the basic rules of perspective that everyone agrees upon: It is used to explain many things, the most common example being the way the Sun and Moon rise and set. The concept of perspective comes up a lot in the flat Earth debate.

How do flat earthers explain time zones