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Flat Earth Theory / Re: Mercury/Venus transiting the sun
« on: March 17, 2019, 04:46:50 PM »I've seen some forum threads here and elsewhere that claim that FE proponents have never answered this, when there are several answers:
1) According to Aristotelian and Ptolemaic models, Moon Mercury and Venus are below Sun. All astronomers of antiquity seemed to believe planets were far smaller than Earth. If this is so, transit is explained.
2) If planets are all around the same altitude, M and V could just have different orbit paths that involve Sun crossing, where the others don't. Heliocentric assumption that all planets must be of same nature and have same kind of orbit.
3) It could easily be faked, and would only involve doing so for a few hours once every 5 or 10 years. Just google image 'airplane venus in front of sun' and you will see how easy it would be.
First off, let me thank you for the reply.
First, I'll counter your first point which states Mercury and Venus are below the sun. When either of these planets pass through our vision of the sun, they only transit a portion of the time. Sometimes they pass where the sun is and are still not visible, suggesting that they are further away. If you question how we could ever know that a plane tis behind the sun, planets move in a predictable pattern that we can track even in the day.
For your second hypothesis, my first argument works as well. We can track those planets' movement during the day and they never transit the sun even when they occupy the same space in our POV.
Please also consider the phenomenon of elongation, which is where mercury and venus had a maximum angle or separation from where the sun is at any given time (Mercury having a smaller angle because it is closer to the sun). Do you have a hypothesis of why the two planets with a maximum elongation also are the two planets that also transit the sun? Or is it just an amazing coincidence?