An astronaut has delivered a stinging smackdown to a man who believes the Earth is flat and demolished his bizarre argument in front of an audience of millions.
Mark Sargent, who believes we’re living on a disc created by some sort of extraterrestrial super-intelligence, appeared on Good Morning Britain to discuss his reasons for believing our planet is not spherical.
‘The first blue marble shot of the earth was taken by Apollo 17 in 1972, and the second one was two summers ago,’ he told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid.
‘We had three decades with no blue marble shots. Why?
‘If this place was built, it was built by someone, so we’re not alone.’
He added: ‘All the world’s a stage, and we’re just in a big soundstage.’
The bizarre claims left motormouth Morgan uncharacteristically tongue-tied, so he turned to his guest, astronaut Terry Virts, to ask what the thought of the claims.
Virts then took out a copy of his book which is packed full of pictures of Earth taken from the International Space Station which – surprise, surprise – reveal that the Earth is round.
Case closed.
Ian Whittaker, a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, recently revealed how our species first figured out the Earth was not flat.
Basically, the ancient Greeks stuck up two sticks in different locations set 500 miles apart and compared their shadows.
When the sun is directly overhead, the sticks produced no shadow whatsoever.
‘If the Earth were flat then both sticks should show the same shadow (or lack of) because they would be positioned at the same angle towards the sun,’ Whittaker wrote.
‘The ancient Greeks found the shadows were different because the Earth was curved and so the sticks were at different angles. They then used the difference in these angles to calculate the circumference of the Earth. They managed to get it to within 10% of the true value – not bad for around 250 BC.’
You can also tell that our planet is globe-shaped by noting the differences between the views of space from the northern and southern hemispheres, which are totally different because they are facing in different directions.
If the Earth was flat, both hemispheres would have the same view.
MORE: Freddie Flintoff ‘joins growing list of celebrities who believe the Earth is flat’
An astronaut has delivered a stinging smackdown to a man who believes the Earth is flat and demolished his bizarre argument in front of an audience of millions.
Mark Sargent, who believes we’re living on a disc created by some sort of extraterrestrial super-intelligence, appeared on Good Morning Britain to discuss his reasons for believing our planet is not spherical.
‘The first blue marble shot of the earth was taken by Apollo 17 in 1972, and the second one was two summers ago,’ he told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid.
‘We had three decades with no blue marble shots. Why?
‘If this place was built, it was built by someone, so we’re not alone.’
He added: ‘All the world’s a stage, and we’re just in a big soundstage.’
The bizarre claims left motormouth Morgan uncharacteristically tongue-tied, so he turned to his guest, astronaut Terry Virts, to ask what the thought of the claims.
Virts then took out a copy of his book which is packed full of pictures of Earth taken from the International Space Station which – surprise, surprise – reveal that the Earth is round.
Case closed.
Ian Whittaker, a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, recently revealed how our species first figured out the Earth was not flat.
Basically, the ancient Greeks stuck up two sticks in different locations set 500 miles apart and compared their shadows.
When the sun is directly overhead, the sticks produced no shadow whatsoever.
‘If the Earth were flat then both sticks should show the same shadow (or lack of) because they would be positioned at the same angle towards the sun,’ Whittaker wrote.
‘The ancient Greeks found the shadows were different because the Earth was curved and so the sticks were at different angles. They then used the difference in these angles to calculate the circumference of the Earth. They managed to get it to within 10% of the true value – not bad for around 250 BC.’
You can also tell that our planet is globe-shaped by noting the differences between the views of space from the northern and southern hemispheres, which are totally different because they are facing in different directions.
If the Earth was flat, both hemispheres would have the same view.
MORE: Freddie Flintoff ‘joins growing list of celebrities who believe the Earth is flat’
