The Flat Earth Society

Flat Earth Discussion Boards => Flat Earth Theory => Topic started by: Astronomer on May 16, 2020, 03:42:20 AM

Title: International Space Station
Post by: Astronomer on May 16, 2020, 03:42:20 AM
With even a simple telescope, it's possible to see the international space station zoom through the sky, if only for a moment. The outline is very clear, and depending on the quality of the optics, atmospheric conditions, etc., quite a lot of detail can be made out.
This, on top of the fact that you can get the precise location of it at any given time, is pretty damning evidence for a flat earth.


How does the flat earth hypothesis explain the consistency of the ISS orbit and the easily obtained details when viewed through a telescope?
If not in orbit, it is propelled by a force other than gravity, and if so, what is this force? There needs to be at least three forces at work for it to rotate in a circle above the plane. And upward force to keep it suspended, and at a minimum two forces to move it in a circular fashion. Conventional fuel burning would need eventual refueling, which doesn't occur.

It cannot be a mere weather balloon as I've seen suggested by some FE'rs, and I don't think any explanation given by flat earth hypothesis will follow the Zetetic method, but I hope to be shown otherwise!

Also, the myriad other satellites need an explanation although it's usually harder to discern visual details on them, given their various respective sizes and distances from the earth.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 16, 2020, 04:10:45 PM
How does ISS stay in orbit ? How do you know how far away it is when you see it pass by ?
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: JSS on May 16, 2020, 04:19:58 PM
How does ISS stay in orbit ? How do you know how far away it is when you see it pass by ?

It stays in orbit the same way anything else does, by being boosted fast enough to enter a stable orbit. There is a complication with it being so low that the atmosphere slows it down, so it has to boost itself up a bit every now and then.

You can see exactly how high it is at any one time live here - https://www.astroviewer.net/iss/en/

I've taken pictures of the ISS many times, good enough to see the solar panels and the main body. Usually because it's not directly overhead the distance was 300-400 miles.

If you want to see it for yourself you can see when it will be passing overhead - https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

I have yet to see a coherent FE theory on what the ISS is, or how it stays up there. Once you see it with your own eyes it's clear it's not a weather balloon or someone shining a laser pointer on the dome.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: BRrollin on May 16, 2020, 04:20:11 PM
How does ISS stay in orbit ? How do you know how far away it is when you see it pass by ?

Several questions were just asked of FE with respect to the ISS. Your response is then to ask questions of RE. This implies:

a) you do not have answers to the questions, and so you are trying to

b) shift the burden of proof

Fine with me! I accept the implication that you lack these answers. But feel free to correct me :)

Answers to YOUR questions:

By gravity.

One complete orbit every 90 mins tells you how far away it is.

Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: existoid on May 16, 2020, 04:38:27 PM


One complete orbit every 90 mins tells you how far away it is.

Okay, so with some quick Google searches, I'm thinking this has something to do with parallax?  You measure the distance it is traveling in an amount of time and somehow calculate angles with trigonometry or something?  I'm really extra dumb when it comes to math and physics.  But at a basic level, knowing how fast it travels is really all you need to calculate its distance? 
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: BRrollin on May 16, 2020, 04:56:43 PM


One complete orbit every 90 mins tells you how far away it is.

Okay, so with some quick Google searches, I'm thinking this has something to do with parallax?  You measure the distance it is traveling in an amount of time and somehow calculate angles with trigonometry or something?  I'm really extra dumb when it comes to math and physics.  But at a basic level, knowing how fast it travels is really all you need to calculate its distance?

No parallax. Hard to explain without math.

Gravitational force keeps ISS in centripetal acceleration. You can express that in terms of its speed. Speed can be expressed in terms of the time period.

Then by knowing the radius of the earth, that’s gives you the altitude.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: existoid on May 16, 2020, 05:04:32 PM


One complete orbit every 90 mins tells you how far away it is.

Okay, so with some quick Google searches, I'm thinking this has something to do with parallax?  You measure the distance it is traveling in an amount of time and somehow calculate angles with trigonometry or something?  I'm really extra dumb when it comes to math and physics.  But at a basic level, knowing how fast it travels is really all you need to calculate its distance?

No parallax. Hard to explain without math.

Gravitational force keeps ISS in centripetal acceleration. You can express that in terms of its speed. Speed can be expressed in terms of the time period.

Then by knowing the radius of the earth, that’s gives you the altitude.

You did a great job of explaining without math!   I had to read it twice, but I think I get it.  Thanks!

So, the elements needed would be to know how much gravitational force there is (I guess the gravitational constant?), how fast the satellite is going, the size of the earth, and with all of these elements, there's basically only one altitude it could be at?

Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: BRrollin on May 16, 2020, 05:55:34 PM


One complete orbit every 90 mins tells you how far away it is.

Okay, so with some quick Google searches, I'm thinking this has something to do with parallax?  You measure the distance it is traveling in an amount of time and somehow calculate angles with trigonometry or something?  I'm really extra dumb when it comes to math and physics.  But at a basic level, knowing how fast it travels is really all you need to calculate its distance?

No parallax. Hard to explain without math.

Gravitational force keeps ISS in centripetal acceleration. You can express that in terms of its speed. Speed can be expressed in terms of the time period.

Then by knowing the radius of the earth, that’s gives you the altitude.

You did a great job of explaining without math!   I had to read it twice, but I think I get it.  Thanks!

So, the elements needed would be to know how much gravitational force there is (I guess the gravitational constant?), how fast the satellite is going, the size of the earth, and with all of these elements, there's basically only one altitude it could be at?

The only variables you need numbers for are: Earth radius, time period, Earth mass, Newton’s gravitational constant.

What I have explained previously is really just how you derive kepler’s third law. A quick google if you are interested.

This explanation holds for circular orbits, but also describes the semi major axis for elliptical orbits. Since ISS orbit has rather low eccentricity, the difference between its semi major and minor axes are small.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 16, 2020, 06:03:06 PM
How does ISS stay in orbit ? How do you know how far away it is when you see it pass by ?

Several questions were just asked of FE with respect to the ISS. Your response is then to ask questions of RE. This implies:

a) you do not have answers to the questions, and so you are trying to

b) shift the burden of proof

Fine with me! I accept the implication that you lack these answers. But feel free to correct me :)

Answers to YOUR questions:

By gravity.

One complete orbit every 90 mins tells you how far away it is.

Gravity will pull it to earth . Gravity does not provide centripetal acceleration. Gravitational constant , oxymoronic name, changes with altitude according to the inverse square law and pulls to the centre of mass or so the theory goes.

You have no  independent way of proving what you say . Angular velocity doesn't give you distance. It 's a plane, balloon satellite, or whatever lighter than air craft they want to wow you with . It's a hologram maybe. It isn't what OP thinks it to be.

Even Kepler couldn't explain where he derived his "laws" from. They are not natural laws.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: ImAnEngineerToo on May 16, 2020, 06:19:07 PM
Gravitational constant does not change, but the radius in the gravity equation could change if the orbit was more like an oval. The laws themselves are natural, but we don’t know why they are the way they are. There’s another inverse law equation for electromagnetism, just with a different constant and units. Science seems to easily explain the how, like through these equations, but has a difficult time explaining the why. Just because you don’t know the why doesn’t mean you certainly don’t know the how.

Now you’re saying it’s a hologram because the ISS really does seem to be explained by the simple explanations laid out in this thread. You have a preconceived notion or subconscious assumption that things like the ISS exists to trick you, and you must cover that belief with some explanation, all while also tricking yourself that your logic is justified by extreme scrutiny of others’ explanations through “the zetetic method”.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: DuncanDoenitz on May 16, 2020, 06:25:14 PM
I think somerled may be correct.  Its a plane.  Its been travelling at over 7 km per second since 1998.  Need to get me some of that fuel. 

Or a balloon.  A really aerodynamic, pointy, balloon. 
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 16, 2020, 06:50:32 PM
I think somerled may be correct.  Its a plane.  Its been travelling at over 7 km per second since 1998.  Need to get me some of that fuel. 

Or a balloon.  A really aerodynamic, pointy, balloon.

Yeah you watched it all the way eh . Angular velocity tells you nothing about distance .
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: JSS on May 16, 2020, 07:25:28 PM
Gravity will pull it to earth . Gravity does not provide centripetal acceleration. Gravitational constant , oxymoronic name, changes with altitude according to the inverse square law and pulls to the centre of mass or so the theory goes.

You have no  independent way of proving what you say . Angular velocity doesn't give you distance. It 's a plane, balloon satellite, or whatever lighter than air craft they want to wow you with . It's a hologram maybe. It isn't what OP thinks it to be.

Even Kepler couldn't explain where he derived his "laws" from. They are not natural laws.

You have zero evidence it's a plane, balloon or whatever. You are literally saying you have no idea what it is, but are very sure it's something else. With nothing to back it up.

If it was a balloon it would have to be moving at a minimum of 2,500mph and even you would have to admit no balloon can go that fast.

The gravitational constant does not change, that's why it's a constant. It would be very helpful if you educated yourself on the theories you are trying to disprove.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: ImAnEngineerToo on May 16, 2020, 07:28:26 PM
I think somerled may be correct.  Its a plane.  Its been travelling at over 7 km per second since 1998.  Need to get me some of that fuel. 

Or a balloon.  A really aerodynamic, pointy, balloon.

Yeah you watched it all the way eh . Angular velocity tells you nothing about distance .

Have you ever herd of a derivative
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: BRrollin on May 16, 2020, 08:18:11 PM
How does ISS stay in orbit ? How do you know how far away it is when you see it pass by ?

Several questions were just asked of FE with respect to the ISS. Your response is then to ask questions of RE. This implies:

a) you do not have answers to the questions, and so you are trying to

b) shift the burden of proof

Fine with me! I accept the implication that you lack these answers. But feel free to correct me :)

Answers to YOUR questions:

By gravity.

One complete orbit every 90 mins tells you how far away it is.

Gravity will pull it to earth . Gravity does not provide centripetal acceleration. Gravitational constant , oxymoronic name, changes with altitude according to the inverse square law and pulls to the centre of mass or so the theory goes.

You have no  independent way of proving what you say . Angular velocity doesn't give you distance. It 's a plane, balloon satellite, or whatever lighter than air craft they want to wow you with . It's a hologram maybe. It isn't what OP thinks it to be.

Even Kepler couldn't explain where he derived his "laws" from. They are not natural laws.

This is in disagreement with history, with every physics textbook I have personally read, and fundamental physics.

Since you requested an independent verification of what I said, I googled derivation of kepler’s third and below find the first return from a university:

http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/152.mf1i.spring02/KeplersLaws.htm

These topics are covered in Undergraduate physics courses all over the world. If you wish, I can extend my list of references if you wish to cross reference.

Now. You claim all of this is false. Can you please provide sources that back up your claim?

I would also be happy to reference Kepler’s original writings on this subject, if you wish to pursue your claim that “he didn’t know where he derives his laws from.” I happen to own a copy :)
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: AATW on May 16, 2020, 09:32:15 PM
Gravity will pull it to earth

It will try to.
Throw a stone horizontally and it will land some distance in front of you.
Fire a bullet and it will land much further from you.
If two people did those things at the same time then which would hit the ground first, the stone or the bullet?
It’s counter intuitive but they’d hit the ground at the same time (ignoring air resistance and assuming the bullet doesn’t go far enough that the earth’s curve is a significant factor.)
They hit at the same time because gravity pulls both of them to earth at the same rate, the bullet goes further because it is going faster and so can travel horizontally further in the time.

What if you had a more powerful gun which shot the bullet faster? It would go further still. Now, if you imagine we live on a globe (I know, but humour me) then the ground would slope away from you. Let’s ignore hills and mountains. You should be able to see that if you shoot the bullet fast enough then the bullet would never land, it would fall but as it falls the ground slopes away. Get the speed right and it would go all the way around the earth (assuming it maintains a constant speed so ignoring air resistance). That is how orbit works.

Quote
Gravitational constant , oxymoronic name, changes with altitude according to the inverse square law and pulls to the centre of mass or so the theory goes.

Here you have quite succinctly shown you don’t understand English or science.
An oxymoron is two adjacent words which contradict one another. These do not.
The Gravitational constant is, as the name suggests, constant. The gravitational force the earth exerts in a body is not constant.

Quote
It 's a plane, balloon satellite, or whatever lighter than air craft they want to wow you with . It's a hologram maybe. It isn't what OP thinks it to be.

And where is your evidence for that?
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: BRrollin on May 16, 2020, 11:30:43 PM
Gravity will pull it to earth

It will try to.
Throw a stone horizontally and it will land some distance in front of you.
Fire a bullet and it will land much further from you.
If two people did those things at the same time then which would hit the ground first, the stone or the bullet?
It’s counter intuitive but they’d hit the ground at the same time (ignoring air resistance and assuming the bullet doesn’t go far enough that the earth’s curve is a significant factor.)
They hit at the same time because gravity pulls both of them to earth at the same rate, the bullet goes further because it is going faster and so can travel horizontally further in the time.

What if you had a more powerful gun which shot the bullet faster? It would go further still. Now, if you imagine we live on a globe (I know, but humour me) then the ground would slope away from you. Let’s ignore hills and mountains. You should be able to see that if you shoot the bullet fast enough then the bullet would never land, it would fall but as it falls the ground slopes away. Get the speed right and it would go all the way around the earth (assuming it maintains a constant speed so ignoring air resistance). That is how orbit works.

Quote
Gravitational constant , oxymoronic name, changes with altitude according to the inverse square law and pulls to the centre of mass or so the theory goes.

Here you have quite succinctly shown you don’t understand English or science.
An oxymoron is two adjacent words which contradict one another. These do not.
The Gravitational constant is, as the name suggests, constant. The gravitational force the earth exerts in a body is not constant.

Quote
It 's a plane, balloon satellite, or whatever lighter than air craft they want to wow you with . It's a hologram maybe. It isn't what OP thinks it to be.

And where is your evidence for that?

I’ll add that you can compute the muzzle speed needed to put a bullet in orbit if fired horizontally:

v=/sqrt{GM/R}

This neglects air resistance, which would kill that orbit very quickly.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 17, 2020, 07:30:31 AM
Gravity will pull it to earth

It will try to.
Throw a stone horizontally and it will land some distance in front of you.
Fire a bullet and it will land much further from you.
If two people did those things at the same time then which would hit the ground first, the stone or the bullet?
It’s counter intuitive but they’d hit the ground at the same time (ignoring air resistance and assuming the bullet doesn’t go far enough that the earth’s curve is a significant factor.)
They hit at the same time because gravity pulls both of them to earth at the same rate, the bullet goes further because it is going faster and so can travel horizontally further in the time.

What if you had a more powerful gun which shot the bullet faster? It would go further still. Now, if you imagine we live on a globe (I know, but humour me) then the ground would slope away from you. Let’s ignore hills and mountains. You should be able to see that if you shoot the bullet fast enough then the bullet would never land, it would fall but as it falls the ground slopes away. Get the speed right and it would go all the way around the earth (assuming it maintains a constant speed so ignoring air resistance). That is how orbit works.

Quote
Gravitational constant , oxymoronic name, changes with altitude according to the inverse square law and pulls to the centre of mass or so the theory goes.

Here you have quite succinctly shown you don’t understand English or science.
An oxymoron is two adjacent words which contradict one another. These do not.
The Gravitational constant is, as the name suggests, constant. The gravitational force the earth exerts in a body is not constant.

Quote
It 's a plane, balloon satellite, or whatever lighter than air craft they want to wow you with . It's a hologram maybe. It isn't what OP thinks it to be.

And where is your evidence for that?

The gravitational constant ,big G , is not constant . Do some research. Start here if you wish . Article from New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24180-strength-of-gravity-shifts-and-this-time-its-serious/

There's loads more on tinterweb .

Watched the ISS plane fly over last night 11.40pm. Ridiculously bright for an object 250mls or so away . Apparently it's because the solar panels cover a big area and reflect sunlight. I always thought the point of solar panels was to absorb sunlight.

Are there orbital parameters for iss that allow for the alledged spin of the earth ? Surely it must be constantly accelerating ?

Earth travels around the sun , according to theory , at 66,600mph, devilish number that . Now that is 18.5 miles per second or 30kms .Iss travels at 7kms we are led to believe . How does it keep up ? How does it maintain its orbit? How do the geostationary satellites ,thousands of miles away , cope with earths motions ? There is no wonder it took a scifi writer to dream up such nonsense or nonscience.

There is no magic velocity ,in globe theory , that allows a satellite to orbit a planet , it either escapes or is pulled back to earth .
If there is ,where is the magic formula?



Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: JSS on May 17, 2020, 12:10:51 PM
The gravitational constant ,big G , is not constant . Do some research. Start here if you wish . Article from New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24180-strength-of-gravity-shifts-and-this-time-its-serious/
That's just a news article speculating, it's not a paper.  You can find all sorts of things in the tinterweb.

I'm going to point you to the The Round Earth Wiki for where to find answers to all your questions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_constant


Watched the ISS plane fly over last night 11.40pm. Ridiculously bright for an object 250mls or so away . Apparently it's because the solar panels cover a big area and reflect sunlight. I always thought the point of solar panels was to absorb sunlight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specular_reflection


Are there orbital parameters for iss that allow for the alledged spin of the earth ? Surely it must be constantly accelerating ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_speed


Earth travels around the sun , according to theory , at 66,600mph, devilish number that . Now that is 18.5 miles per second or 30kms .Iss travels at 7kms we are led to believe . How does it keep up ? How does it maintain its orbit? How do the geostationary satellites ,thousands of miles away , cope with earths motions ? There is no wonder it took a scifi writer to dream up such nonsense or nonscience.
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+do+satelites+stay+up&oq=how+do+satelites+stay+up

Also, the Number of the Beast is 616 according to the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus. The value of 666 is likely a translation error.

There is no magic velocity ,in globe theory , that allows a satellite to orbit a planet , it either escapes or is pulled back to earth .
If there is ,where is the magic formula?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: BRrollin on May 17, 2020, 12:15:04 PM
Gravity will pull it to earth

It will try to.
Throw a stone horizontally and it will land some distance in front of you.
Fire a bullet and it will land much further from you.
If two people did those things at the same time then which would hit the ground first, the stone or the bullet?
It’s counter intuitive but they’d hit the ground at the same time (ignoring air resistance and assuming the bullet doesn’t go far enough that the earth’s curve is a significant factor.)
They hit at the same time because gravity pulls both of them to earth at the same rate, the bullet goes further because it is going faster and so can travel horizontally further in the time.

What if you had a more powerful gun which shot the bullet faster? It would go further still. Now, if you imagine we live on a globe (I know, but humour me) then the ground would slope away from you. Let’s ignore hills and mountains. You should be able to see that if you shoot the bullet fast enough then the bullet would never land, it would fall but as it falls the ground slopes away. Get the speed right and it would go all the way around the earth (assuming it maintains a constant speed so ignoring air resistance). That is how orbit works.

Quote
Gravitational constant , oxymoronic name, changes with altitude according to the inverse square law and pulls to the centre of mass or so the theory goes.

Here you have quite succinctly shown you don’t understand English or science.
An oxymoron is two adjacent words which contradict one another. These do not.
The Gravitational constant is, as the name suggests, constant. The gravitational force the earth exerts in a body is not constant.

Quote
It 's a plane, balloon satellite, or whatever lighter than air craft they want to wow you with . It's a hologram maybe. It isn't what OP thinks it to be.

And where is your evidence for that?

The gravitational constant ,big G , is not constant . Do some research. Start here if you wish . Article from New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24180-strength-of-gravity-shifts-and-this-time-its-serious/

There's loads more on tinterweb .

Watched the ISS plane fly over last night 11.40pm. Ridiculously bright for an object 250mls or so away . Apparently it's because the solar panels cover a big area and reflect sunlight. I always thought the point of solar panels was to absorb sunlight.

Are there orbital parameters for iss that allow for the alledged spin of the earth ? Surely it must be constantly accelerating ?

Earth travels around the sun , according to theory , at 66,600mph, devilish number that . Now that is 18.5 miles per second or 30kms .Iss travels at 7kms we are led to believe . How does it keep up ? How does it maintain its orbit? How do the geostationary satellites ,thousands of miles away , cope with earths motions ? There is no wonder it took a scifi writer to dream up such nonsense or nonscience.

There is no magic velocity ,in globe theory , that allows a satellite to orbit a planet , it either escapes or is pulled back to earth .
If there is ,where is the magic formula?

The value G MAY not be constant. But this is speculative if you read the article carefully.

You are mistaken. There is such a velocity: v=\sqrt{GM/r}, which was given in the post above your reply.

Why do you think satellites care about the earth spinning? Do you suspect there is a force exerted by a spinning object? Does the earth care that the sun spins?

It is difficult to reply properly when your statements are vague. What does it mean for satellites to “cope” with earth’s motions?
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 17, 2020, 01:40:49 PM
Straight forward statement . Big G constant is not constant. https://www.sheldrake.org/essays/how-the-universal-gravitational-constant-varies .

     Your equation involves use of a variable constant Big G and little r which I presume is the average value given for radius of earth 6371km . The earth is either pear shaped or oblate depending on which theoretic shape you want so the value 6371km cannot be used as an accurate value for little r.

The  equation therefore cannot give you a value for v which equates to reality according to the globe model.

How do satellites orbit and follow an object which is constantly accelerating at 18.5 miles per second around the sun ?

Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: JSS on May 17, 2020, 01:59:19 PM
Straight forward statement . Big G constant is not constant. https://www.sheldrake.org/essays/how-the-universal-gravitational-constant-varies .

     Your equation involves use of a variable constant Big G and little r which I presume is the average value given for radius of earth 6371km . The earth is either pear shaped or oblate depending on which theoretic shape you want so the value 6371km cannot be used as an accurate value for little r.

The  equation therefore cannot give you a value for v which equates to reality according to the globe model.

How do satellites orbit and follow an object which is constantly accelerating at 18.5 miles per second around the sun ?

You quoted Rupert Sheldrake who studies ghosts and telepathy and is most assuredly not a physicist.

You will need to find an actual scientific paper, not a blog from someone who thinks he can see the future.   ::)

You also do not understand scale.  Please refer to the Wiki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_scale
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 17, 2020, 03:03:31 PM
Straight forward statement . Big G constant is not constant. https://www.sheldrake.org/essays/how-the-universal-gravitational-constant-varies .

     Your equation involves use of a variable constant Big G and little r which I presume is the average value given for radius of earth 6371km . The earth is either pear shaped or oblate depending on which theoretic shape you want so the value 6371km cannot be used as an accurate value for little r.

The  equation therefore cannot give you a value for v which equates to reality according to the globe model.

How do satellites orbit and follow an object which is constantly accelerating at 18.5 miles per second around the sun ?

You quoted Rupert Sheldrake who studies ghosts and telepathy and is most assuredly not a physicist.

You will need to find an actual scientific paper, not a blog from someone who thinks he can see the future.   ::)

You also do not understand scale.  Please refer to the Wiki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_scale

https://physicsworld.com/a/gravitational-constant-mystery-deepens-with-new-precision-measurements/

https://phys.org/news/2015-04-gravitational-constant-vary.html

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/puzzling-measurement-of-big-g-gravitational-constant-ignites-debate-slide-show/

You need to read a few o these
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: ImAnEngineerToo on May 17, 2020, 03:43:13 PM
Apparently it's because the solar panels cover a big area and reflect sunlight. I always thought the point of solar panels was to absorb sunlight.

I didn’t want this to slip away, but you need to go out and understand things better before you come try to refute them. Solar panels are indeed meant to absorb light but 5ish percent still gets reflected. That’s enough to look a little bright when the reflection is of the sun.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: JSS on May 17, 2020, 03:55:34 PM
https://physicsworld.com/a/gravitational-constant-mystery-deepens-with-new-precision-measurements/

"Despite the latest improvement in precision, the reason (or reasons) for the discrepancies between G measurements remains a mystery. The most likely explanation is that researchers have underestimated or overlooked one or more sources of experimental error"

https://phys.org/news/2015-04-gravitational-constant-vary.html

"The variations in G are generally thought to result from measurement inconsistencies because G is very difficult to measure, partly due to the fact that gravity is much weaker than the other fundamental forces."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/puzzling-measurement-of-big-g-gravitational-constant-ignites-debate-slide-show/

"Most scientists think all these discrepancies reflect human sources of error, rather than a true inconstancy of big G. We know the strength of gravity hasn’t been fluctuating over the past 200 years, for example, because if so, the orbits of the planets around the sun would have changed, Quinn says."

You need to read a few o these

Maybe you should read them too.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 17, 2020, 04:19:06 PM
Apparently it's because the solar panels cover a big area and reflect sunlight. I always thought the point of solar panels was to absorb sunlight.

I didn’t want this to slip away, but you need to go out and understand things better before you come try to refute them. Solar panels are indeed meant to absorb light but 5ish percent still gets reflected. That’s enough to look a little bright when the reflection is of the sun.

Neither do I . Insolation at earth = 1370W/m^2 so 5% reflection = 70W/m^2 .  Area of solar panels = 2500m^2 so total reflected =18000W . Isnt that a 180kw lamp.

Those figures won't be accurate but it seems a tall order to reflect such a bright image from 250mls away.

Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: ChrisTP on May 17, 2020, 05:16:23 PM
Apparently it's because the solar panels cover a big area and reflect sunlight. I always thought the point of solar panels was to absorb sunlight.

I didn’t want this to slip away, but you need to go out and understand things better before you come try to refute them. Solar panels are indeed meant to absorb light but 5ish percent still gets reflected. That’s enough to look a little bright when the reflection is of the sun.

Neither do I . Insolation at earth = 1370W/m^2 so 5% reflection = 70W/m^2 .  Area of solar panels = 2500m^2 so total reflected =18000W . Isnt that a 180kw lamp.

Those figures won't be accurate but it seems a tall order to reflect such a bright image from 250mls away.
why? What has distance got to do with it? You see stars, you see the moon, the sun. All much further away. Light doesn't just stop and vanish after a few hundred km.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 17, 2020, 05:23:14 PM
Should imagine intensity of light diminishes over distance . Objects tend to scatter light too , as does the air .
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: JSS on May 17, 2020, 05:41:59 PM
Apparently it's because the solar panels cover a big area and reflect sunlight. I always thought the point of solar panels was to absorb sunlight.

I didn’t want this to slip away, but you need to go out and understand things better before you come try to refute them. Solar panels are indeed meant to absorb light but 5ish percent still gets reflected. That’s enough to look a little bright when the reflection is of the sun.

Neither do I . Insolation at earth = 1370W/m^2 so 5% reflection = 70W/m^2 .  Area of solar panels = 2500m^2 so total reflected =18000W . Isnt that a 180kw lamp.

Those figures won't be accurate but it seems a tall order to reflect such a bright image from 250mls away.

At the right angles those solar panels are going to very nearly reflect 100% of the Sun.

It's literally like looking at a sun through a mirror, and that is going to be BRIGHT. Try poking a pinhole through a sheet of tin foil, hold it up to the sun and see how bright that is.  Or not, could be damaging to your eye if you're not careful.

So yeah, it's bright.. it's literally a tiny piece of the SUN moving across the sky. Not a tall order at all.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 17, 2020, 06:05:42 PM
The solar panels absorb the suns radiation though although how much I don't know. Surely the panels if directed like mirrors wouldn't appear bright all over the earth ?
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: JSS on May 17, 2020, 06:20:37 PM
The solar panels absorb the suns radiation though although how much I don't know. Surely the panels if directed like mirrors wouldn't appear bright all over the earth ?

They don't appear bright all over the Earth.  You can only see it that bright when it's reflecting at the correct angle, it's brightness varies a lot based on the angle as it passes each time. 
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: ChrisTP on May 17, 2020, 06:24:20 PM
The solar panels absorb the suns radiation though although how much I don't know. Surely the panels if directed like mirrors wouldn't appear bright all over the earth ?
test for yourself by looking at any functional solar panels here on earth. can you see a reflection on the surface? Yea? Then it's directly reflecting a lot of light. Now look at a piece of limestone. No reflection in that rock? It's scattering light a lot more than a surface where you can clearly see a mirror reflection of some kind.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 17, 2020, 06:56:45 PM
The solar panels absorb the suns radiation though although how much I don't know. Surely the panels if directed like mirrors wouldn't appear bright all over the earth ?
test for yourself by looking at any functional solar panels here on earth. can you see a reflection on the surface? Yea? Then it's directly reflecting a lot of light. Now look at a piece of limestone. No reflection in that rock? It's scattering light a lot more than a surface where you can clearly see a mirror reflection of some kind.

https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-sunlight-is-directly-reflected-by-a-solar-panel .

The solar panels in my garden are dull. They are designed to absorb light .

https://www.edn.com/international-space-station-iss-power-system/
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: ChrisTP on May 17, 2020, 07:39:05 PM
The solar panels absorb the suns radiation though although how much I don't know. Surely the panels if directed like mirrors wouldn't appear bright all over the earth ?
test for yourself by looking at any functional solar panels here on earth. can you see a reflection on the surface? Yea? Then it's directly reflecting a lot of light. Now look at a piece of limestone. No reflection in that rock? It's scattering light a lot more than a surface where you can clearly see a mirror reflection of some kind.

https://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-sunlight-is-directly-reflected-by-a-solar-panel .

The solar panels in my garden are dull. They are designed to absorb light .

https://www.edn.com/international-space-station-iss-power-system/

Cool, can you or can you not see some form of reflection here in these totally random googled images? Is the surface of solar panels smooth, or rough?
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/462006443403640834/711663661143556158/solar.png)
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: Astronomer on May 18, 2020, 12:59:54 AM
Gravity will pull it to earth

It will try to.
Throw a stone horizontally and it will land some distance in front of you.
Fire a bullet and it will land much further from you.
If two people did those things at the same time then which would hit the ground first, the stone or the bullet?
It’s counter intuitive but they’d hit the ground at the same time (ignoring air resistance and assuming the bullet doesn’t go far enough that the earth’s curve is a significant factor.)
They hit at the same time because gravity pulls both of them to earth at the same rate, the bullet goes further because it is going faster and so can travel horizontally further in the time.

What if you had a more powerful gun which shot the bullet faster? It would go further still. Now, if you imagine we live on a globe (I know, but humour me) then the ground would slope away from you. Let’s ignore hills and mountains. You should be able to see that if you shoot the bullet fast enough then the bullet would never land, it would fall but as it falls the ground slopes away. Get the speed right and it would go all the way around the earth (assuming it maintains a constant speed so ignoring air resistance). That is how orbit works.

Quote
Gravitational constant , oxymoronic name, changes with altitude according to the inverse square law and pulls to the centre of mass or so the theory goes.

Here you have quite succinctly shown you don’t understand English or science.
An oxymoron is two adjacent words which contradict one another. These do not.
The Gravitational constant is, as the name suggests, constant. The gravitational force the earth exerts in a body is not constant.

Quote
It 's a plane, balloon satellite, or whatever lighter than air craft they want to wow you with . It's a hologram maybe. It isn't what OP thinks it to be.

And where is your evidence for that?

The gravitational constant ,big G , is not constant . Do some research. Start here if you wish . Article from New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24180-strength-of-gravity-shifts-and-this-time-its-serious/

There's loads more on tinterweb .

Watched the ISS plane fly over last night 11.40pm. Ridiculously bright for an object 250mls or so away . Apparently it's because the solar panels cover a big area and reflect sunlight. I always thought the point of solar panels was to absorb sunlight.

Are there orbital parameters for iss that allow for the alledged spin of the earth ? Surely it must be constantly accelerating ?

Earth travels around the sun , according to theory , at 66,600mph, devilish number that . Now that is 18.5 miles per second or 30kms .Iss travels at 7kms we are led to believe . How does it keep up ? How does it maintain its orbit? How do the geostationary satellites ,thousands of miles away , cope with earths motions ? There is no wonder it took a scifi writer to dream up such nonsense or nonscience.

There is no magic velocity ,in globe theory , that allows a satellite to orbit a planet , it either escapes or is pulled back to earth .
If there is ,where is the magic formula?

Dude, how do the satellites keep up with the earth? They’re moving at those speeds RELATIVE to the earth.
This is literally one of the first concepts you will learn in an introductory physics class.


Side note, someone please explain to me how to pull individual quotes from a person’s reply, so people don’t have to scroll through a text wall to see what I’m replying to.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: stack on May 18, 2020, 02:45:21 AM
Side note, someone please explain to me how to pull individual quotes from a person’s reply, so people don’t have to scroll through a text wall to see what I’m replying to.

Check out the code for this and you will see how to pull out a quote.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: somerled on May 18, 2020, 11:04:45 AM


Dude, how do the satellites keep up with the earth? They’re moving at those speeds RELATIVE to the earth.
This is literally one of the first concepts you will learn in an introductory physics class.


[/quote]

Nah. One of the concepts of theoretical physics maybe - that's imaginary physics based on unproven assumption , physics based on thought experiment including postulates treated as reality law because some plagiarist patsy says so .

 Science might as well admit the earth is stationary ( no experiment has ever found rotation of earth) and get rid of that shite and use real science based on laws derived from repeatable scientific experiment and observation.
 

Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: JSS on May 18, 2020, 11:26:12 AM

Dude, how do the satellites keep up with the earth? They’re moving at those speeds RELATIVE to the earth.
This is literally one of the first concepts you will learn in an introductory physics class.

Nah. One of the concepts of theoretical physics maybe - that's imaginary physics based on unproven assumption , physics based on thought experiment including postulates treated as reality law because some plagiarist patsy says so .

 Science might as well admit the earth is stationary ( no experiment has ever found rotation of earth) and get rid of that shite and use real science based on laws derived from repeatable scientific experiment and observation.

There are many experiments that have measured the rotation of the Earth.

The most famous is of course the Foucault pendulum.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault_pendulum

But ring-laser gyros are sensitive enough to do it too now.

    https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/723/1/012061/pdf

More recently, scientists developed a small chip-based device that can detect the rotation.

    https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/new-chip-based-laser-gyroscope-measures-earths-rotation
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: Pete Svarrior on May 18, 2020, 12:06:48 PM
Watch the documentary "Behind the Curve".

It shows some of the most famous flat earth scientists conducting an experiment that shows the rotation of the Earth.

If you can't believe flat earthers, then who can you believe?
Refrain from strawmanning your opponents in the upper fora. It's in extremely poor form, and will not be tolerated here. I will not warn you again.

https://forum.tfes.org/index.php?topic=13824.0
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: JSS on May 18, 2020, 12:26:20 PM
Watch the documentary "Behind the Curve".

It shows some of the most famous flat earth scientists conducting an experiment that shows the rotation of the Earth.

If you can't believe flat earthers, then who can you believe?
Refrain from strawmanning your opponents in the upper fora. It's in extremely poor form, and will not be tolerated here. I will not warn you again.

https://forum.tfes.org/index.php?topic=13824.0

Noted. I'll edit the post to use better references and remove the ironic commentary. And fix the broken formatting.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: Tim Alphabeaver on May 25, 2020, 11:40:39 PM
So I thought this question was answered by the Universal Acceleration page wiki page, but I don't see anything about it on there...
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: Tumeni on May 27, 2020, 01:16:11 PM
... it seems a tall order to reflect such a bright image from 250mls away.

The science behind the Heliograph, or Reflecting Signalling Mirror, is well-known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliograph

"The range of a heliograph depends on the opacity of the air and the effective collecting area of the mirrors. Heliograph mirrors ranged from 1.5 inches to 12 inches or more. Stations at higher altitudes benefit from thinner, clearer air, and are required in any event for great ranges, to clear the curvature of the earth. A good approximation for ranges of 20–50 miles is that the flash of a circular mirror is visible to the naked eye for 10 miles for each inch of mirror diameter"

There's no mention of this range being achieved only in darkness or twilight, so it seems the general approximation applies to daylight usage.  Note that the observer sees the flash at a range far beyond that at which they could discern the physical structure of the mirror.

The principle applies to the ISS; sunlight reflecting off a reflective surface toward the observer.

All that's needed is to approximate the reflective area of the ISS and apply this approximation to calculate the range at which it could be seen from the above formula.
Title: Re: International Space Station
Post by: Tumeni on May 27, 2020, 01:24:26 PM
How do you know how far away it is when you see it pass by ?

Could be calculated with simple geometry, but this is unlikely to yield a figure corresponding to the orbital height, since it is unlikely to pass directly over you; measure its angle above your horizon, and solve for distance D.

(https://i.imgur.com/ul2Mv87.jpg)


The solar panels absorb the suns radiation though although how much I don't know. Surely the panels if directed like mirrors wouldn't appear bright all over the earth ?

It's less apparent in daylight for the same reason that stars and planets are less apparent. The sunlight in the atmosphere washes all over the reflected light from ISS, planet, etc.

It's apparent from certain prediction sites that the time and place where the ISS "goes dark", i.e. the point where it passes into Earth's shadow, are predictable. It can readily be seen from your own and others' observations that the predictions are correct.