HorstFue

The Moon is key evidence for Earth being a Sphere
« on: January 28, 2018, 08:51:29 PM »
Did you ever have a very close watch of the moon, along its path during the night?
One thing, that makes observation more easy, is the moon is always showing us the same face, it's in a synchronous rotation.
The moon is not a uniform illuminated disk, you see distinct features, even with bare eyes.
And there comes in the second issue: Anyone all over this half of Earth, where you can see the moon - at the same time -
sees the same image of the moon.

The Distance:
If You don't have the time to watch, search internet for images of the moon, there are all quite similar if not identical.
They show the same features and you can make them nearly identical, if you apply simple adjustments for zoom and tilt/rotation.
I come back to the tilt later.
As anybody on Earth sees the same features in the image of the moon and for sure nobody took a picture of
a distorted moon (unless when intersecting with the horizon), there can only be one explanation:
The moon is far away. The distance must be a multiple of the distance between any two observers,
so distance must be quite a multiple of Earth diameter. (RE theory: 30 time).

The Tilt:
Did you ever watch a crescent moon on its course during the night?
When the moon is in the south, the crescent moon is standing upright. Some hours before, just above the horizon,
it appeared to be tilted to the left. During the hours after the rise, the image of the moon appears,
to be 'rotating' until it's upright in the south, and after that the 'rotating' continues until its tilted to the right.
There's even a coarse 'navigation aid' known: If you connect the horns of a crescent moon by a line and extend the line
to the horizon, it gives a hint, where's south (on northern hemisphere, North on southern hemisphere).

The tilt is more obvious - or bigger - in lower latitudes, closer to the equator.
I at least observed this difference between north and south Europe.

To complete it: You find images of a crescent moon more or less lying horizontal close above the horizon, tilted 90°.
These images were are taken near equator.
You find images with only a small tilt, taken in the high north, e.g. Canada.

There is one flat Earth believer in Germany, who came across this, and he did thorough measurements.
It's not so clear, what he wants to proof with it, seems even he himself does not know,
but he was very enthusiastic about the finding.
http://euronia.com/de/flache-erde-blog
He mentioned something about 87° for the total tilt/'rotation' of the full moon during the night, from rise to set.
It's not so clear if this may be due to the issue, that moon is not rising/setting exactly west/east in the summer;
if this is due to the moon not standing exactly above the equator because of the tilted earth axis or the moon's
orbit not perpendicular to earth axis; so there are some possible errors in it. But on a coarse view things match.
Now lets half the value 87°: 43° not far from 41°,
What would be exactly corresponding to the latitude of the observer: (south) Germany is about 49° North.
90° - 49° gives the value 41°.

To summarize: The tilt of the moon near the horizon appears to correspond with the latitude of the observer.
I at least have now 3 measured points:
equator: 90°-0° = 90°;  Germany 90°-49° = 41°; north pole 90°-90° = 0°
... and some own observations, that the tilt increases with lower latitude.

And now comes in the issue from the beginning: Anyone on earth (seeing the moon) can observe and measure this tilt.
And at any point in time, one observer might see the moon - tilted - close to the horizon,
another observer sees the moon in the south with no tilt.
If these observers watch the same object, there could only be one explanation, why they appear to see a different tilt:
The orientation of the observers is not identical. More or less the observers are 'tilted'.
Assuming the observers are on the same meridian, watching the rising moon,
you can only conclude, the meridian is not a straight line but curved.
Taking into account, the observer's latitude corresponds with this tilt, the meridian is part of a circle.
Repeating this with more meridians, you get ...... a sphere.