snsnsnsns wrote:
This guy wrote:A bit of a problem for this one. You could make this work for a given observer at a given location, but another observer 1000 miles away in one direction along the arc would see the Sun's apparent diameter fluctuate from rougly 1500 arc seconds to about 3000 arcseconds, because it's distance from this observer would range from 2000 miles to 4000 miles The but Sun's AD doesn't fluctuate by this amount, it stays ~1920 arcseconds for all observers. There are millions of observers, it has to work for everyone everywhere.
To be fair, an even bigger "problem" is that all people would be able to see the sun 24 hours a day on the earth . . .
However, legit question explained that the sun can shine like a spotlight an not a sphere . . . I forget how . . .
Legit why does it shine like a spotlight? Need some help here.
Answer:
The Sun never sets or rises, it stays the same distance over the Earth throughout it's daily/annual journeys around. The appearance of rising and setting is all based on the law of perspective on plane surfaces. The Sun and Moon spotlights are perpetually hovering over and parallel to the surface of the Earth. From our vantage point, due to the Law of Perspective, the day/night luminaries appear to rise up the Eastern horizon, curve peaking high overhead, and then sink below the Western horizon. They do not escape to the underside of the Flat-Earth as one might imagine, but rather rotate concentric clockwise circles around the circumference from tropic to tropic.
“Although the Sun is at all times above and parallel to the Earth’s surface, it appears to ascend the firmament from morning until noon, and to descend and sink below the horizon at evening. This arises from a simple and everywhere visible law of perspective. A flock of birds, when passing over a flat or marshy country, always appears to descend as it recedes; and if the flock is extensive, the first bird appears lower, or nearer to the horizon than the last. The farthest light in a row of lamps appears the lowest, although each one has the same altitude. Bearing these phenomena in mind, it will easily be seen how the Sun, although always parallel to the surface of the Earth, must appear to ascend when approaching, and descend after leaving the meridian or noon-day position.â€
-Dr. Samuel Rowbotham, “Earth Not a Globe, 2nd Edition†(85)