Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson loves to throw down with some real science whenever an opportunity to educate arises. As director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Tyson is all about seizing the moment and fighting ignorance to make a better tomorrow - which is probably why he took to Twitter to share an image of the moon he hopes flat-Earthers will see. But while this image has orbited the social media sphere for the past decade, no one, not even flat-Earthers, has ever seen in it the real night sky.
A Lunar Eclipse flat-Earther’s have never seen. https://t.co/HuApDwa85n— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@Neil deGrasse Tyson)1511734080.0
A Lunar Eclipse flat-Earther’s have never seen.
With one image, Tyson exposes an undeniable fallacy about the flat-Earth theory. Putting aside everything else we know via science, if the Earth is indeed flat than certainly that means lunar eclipses would result in such thin shadows on the moon as it passed behind Earth.
But the devout are not easily dissuaded from their ways.
@neiltyson @aspenmonkey1 Is this photograph no proof of flat Earth? Or was it "composed" like the round ones?— Harry Lythall (@Harry Lythall)1511779931.0
There was plenty of fun to go around.
@neiltyson https://t.co/RLyNBjSt1L— cswappo (@cswappo)1511734154.0
And it's not a flat Earth debate without a World Turtle.
@Mikes005 @neiltyson on vacation— rubens (@rubens)1511734194.0
You mean this turtle?
@Sk6Stan @scoobaluyt @neiltyson https://t.co/H6GwXV7I2T— cswappo (@cswappo)1511739981.0
@Mikes005 @neiltyson Mike, dude, you gotta think, man. I can't do all the thinking for you. Just this once: buoyanc… https://t.co/iM31HKP2N7— rubens (@rubens)1511734465.0
That time Tyson twitter-dueled with a flat-Earth rapper.
This is not the first time Tyson has tackled flat-Earth zealots on social media. In January, Tyson tried to talk reason with rapper B.o.B., who thought a photograph of two city skylines discredited the possibility that the earth is a sphere. The following twitter-feud changed neither of their minds.
The cities in the background are approx. 16miles apart... where is the curve ? please explain this https://t.co/YCJVBdOWX7— B.o.B (@B.o.B)1453680313.0
@bobatl Earth's curve indeed blocks 150 (not 170) ft of Manhattan. But most buildings in midtown are waaay taller than that.— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@Neil deGrasse Tyson)1453736663.0
Then the flat-Earth true believers got involved.
That's when the squabbling really turned up.
@neiltyson How does a ball earth create a flat shadow here? Oh yeah, the earth is flat. https://t.co/im6DS8Nm7s— Flat Earth SubGenius (@Flat Earth SubGenius)1511736834.0
@CompAniProd @neiltyson https://t.co/muYyG862Gf— Flat Earth SubGenius (@Flat Earth SubGenius)1511737365.0
No matter what "evidence" one side presented...
@Z_Ivey33 @CompAniProd @ziggy_magana @JeremiahLiend @neiltyson Look! Circumnavigation! https://t.co/X98IXZIJFZ— Flat Earth SubGenius (@Flat Earth SubGenius)1511822014.0
...someone else was there to gently ridicule their ignorance.
@CompAniProd @Z_Ivey33 @ziggy_magana @JeremiahLiend @neiltyson lol https://t.co/S6RITAfWHv— Flat Earth SubGenius (@Flat Earth SubGenius)1511822333.0
The flat-Earth advocates took to attacking Tyson.
@neiltyson So @neiltyson can you explain #bubblesinspace or #scubatanksinspace?? You probably won't respond as nas… https://t.co/UMwRYGviQw— Vagabond (@Vagabond)1511828415.0
And they showed their lack of educated stripes.
You're right, cause the shadow from the mountains and the trees and the skyscrapers and planes and satellites creat… https://t.co/RzClr6zvu1— xCalvaryx (@xCalvaryx)1511822363.0
They got brutal.
@Rositajones_ @neiltyson Neil Tyson is proof monsters exist. Sold his soul so he can suckle at the establishment te… https://t.co/VAuvB045zX— Walliam Shakesbare (@Walliam Shakesbare)1511735658.0
@fokamahusky @neiltyson The grass Tyson is a paid actor , we need not search the Internet long to find his acting r… https://t.co/SUEyONoh1p— BOOGNISH.RM (@BOOGNISH.RM)1511784573.0
Round and round the fighting went.
It's so crazy that we're not sure if flat-Earth people really believe what they are saying. Maybe they're all just Russian trolls.
@neiltyson @IndyJazzBelle ROFLMAO!. I really dont get these Flat Earthers. I mean its 2017 do they actually believe… https://t.co/bPdbmYy9Dr— Brian Urso (@Brian Urso)1511801926.0
We even have a man who thought he could launch himself in a rocket to prove the Earth flat.
@neiltyson Flat-Earther Postpones Steam-Powered Rocket Flight After Motorhome/Launchpad Breaks Down 👌🏾 https://t.co/KuatmzjbTw— Jay Thomas (@Jay Thomas)1511746839.0
Maybe we should all just read a bedtime story and call it a night.
LeVar Burton reading Goodnight Moon to Neil deGrasse Tyson #Books #Reading #Science https://t.co/kFIJSRqZS3— #Science and #Tech (@#Science and #Tech)1511296576.0
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h/t: Twitter