 proof enough for any man in his senses that we have made no motion at all and that the Earth is not a globe.” Thus, true believers claim that the fixed positions of the stars, and the fact that the star Polaris never moves, constitute proof of Flat-Earth Theory.
Unfortunately for them, Polaris does move. First, Polaris is not currently located exactly at the North celestial pole. It is 0.65 degrees from the Pole, and one can measure the motion of Polaris with a decent telescope. One reason that Polaris appears to be stationary is that it is very far from Earth. Astronomers know that Polaris is 433.8 light-years from Earth. In fact, Polaris is part of a three-star multiplet. Polaris Aa, a yellow supergiant star, is in orbit with a smaller companion star Polaris Ab; and that pair is in orbit with a third star Polaris B.
We now know that, due to the precession of the equinoxes (a gravity-induced change in the orientation of Earth’s rotational axis), over time Polaris will be observed to move away from the celestial North Pole. Thus, claims by Flat-Earthers that Polaris is absolutely stationary are completely false.
On this same topic, Samuel Rowbotham asserted that “Throughout thousands of years the same constellations have remained fixed in their same patterns without moving out of position whatsoever. If the Earth were a big ball spinning around a bigger Sun spinning around a bigger galaxy, it is impossible that the constellations would remain so fixed.” In fact, the constellations have not remained fixed. We know that stars are moving relative to Earth, and are moving at varying rates since the stars in a given constellation may be billions of miles apart and moving in different directions. If we study star charts from a few hundred years ago, we can easily detect the motion of various stars. Fig. II.9 compares the current shape of Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) with the configuration shown in John Flamsteed’s 1729 book Atlas Coelestis. The motion of Polaris, caused by Earth’s axial precession, is clearly visible. This is consistent with the mainstream view of cosmology but it contradicts Flat-Earth theory.
If the Flat-Earth model of Fig. I.6 was correct, with the Earth a flat disc and the stars circling about the North celestial Pole once a day, then everyone on Earth should be able to see all of the stars. In particular, everyone on Earth should be able to see Polaris, the North Star. In fact, people who live more than about 1 degree south of the Equator cannot see Polaris. Furthermore, if you live north of about 25 degrees latitude in the Northern Hemisphere, you cannot see the Southern Cross constellation. This is exactly what one would predict with a spherical Earth, but Flat-Earthers must invent far-fetched and arbitrary excuses why this is so.
Also, in the Southern Hemisphere the stars appear to rotate about the South celestial pole. Unlike the Northern Hemisphere, with the bright star Polaris very near the North celestial pole, there is not a bright star located at the South celestial pole. The South celestial pole is close to the faint star Polaris Australis. People who have traveled to the South Pole indeed see the stars apparently rotating about the South celestial pole (note that Flat-Earthers on a 2020 cruise to the Antarctic will see the stars rotating around the South celestial pole — they will also not see Polaris). This motion is impossible in the Flat-Earth model.
II.4: Lunar Eclipses
Fig. II.10 shows the Flat-Earth conception of the Sun and the Moon. These two bodies are supposed to be the same size, each 3,000 miles above the flat Earth, and they rotate over the flat Earth on opposite sides of circles of changing size. Furthermore, the Sun does not radiate light in all directions, but shines like a searchlight (this is so some areas of Earth can experience sunlight while other areas are in darkness). Flat-Earthers have a difficult time explaining why the Sun rises over the horizon in the morning and sinks below the horizon at night (natural to explain for a spheroidal, rotating Earth).
Flat-Earth theory