Your Thoughts

[theStudent]

There are many people who believe that we are not being told the truth about the universe.
One example of this is:
The sun is said to be about 93 million miles away from earth, and travelling at the speed of light, light reaches the earth about 8 minutes, 20 seconds.
If our eyes cannot see millions of miles in the distance, how can we see the shape of the sun, in the sky, in the same way we see the moon, both being about the same size.

What do you think?
How would you answer these questions?

[Talishi]

There are many people who believe that we are not being told the truth about the universe.
One example of this is:
The sun is said to be about 93 million miles away from earth, and travelling at the speed of light, light reaches the earth about 8 minutes, 20 seconds.
If our eyes cannot see millions of miles in the distance, how can we see the shape of the sun, in the sky, in the same way we see the moon, both being about the same size.

What do you think?
How would you answer these questions?

Our eyes can see much further than mere millions of miles in the distance. I have seen the core of the Andromeda galaxy in a very dark night sky, and that is 2.4 million light-years in the distance, and one light year is six trillion (million million) miles.

Our retina can register a single photon.

[benchwarmer]

There are many people who believe that we are not being told the truth about the universe.
One example of this is:
The sun is said to be about 93 million miles away from earth, and travelling at the speed of light, light reaches the earth about 8 minutes, 20 seconds.
If our eyes cannot see millions of miles in the distance, how can we see the shape of the sun, in the sky, in the same way we see the moon, both being about the same size.

What do you think?
How would you answer these questions?

I would fire up google and find the answer:

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-ma ... ances.html

Then if I didn't believe it, I would start doing my own experiments to validate what's being said.

How would you answer the questions?

[benchwarmer]

[Replying to post 2 by Talishi]

Apparently Talishi paid more attention to the actual question than I did. I got caught up in how to measure distance instead of seeing millions of miles. What she said

And how do you know we can't see millions of miles TheStudent?

[DanieltheDragon]

[Replying to post 1 by theStudent]




What Talishi said and perspective, I dare say the moon is closer than the sun else how you esplain this?

[Divine Insight]

There are many people who believe that we are not being told the truth about the universe.

Why would anyone think such a silly thing?

You even suggest in your subtitle to this thread "Have we been lied to?" that scientists and teacher are being dishonest in some sort of secret conspiracy to teach the masses lies.

This sounds like extreme paranoia to me.

Especially when the sciences are totally OPEN to the public. You can become a scientist yourself and as one you are free to challenge all scientific data by presenting your case against it. In fact the hope and dream of all scientists is to show where there is a problem with a current understanding or even better yet ADD TO that current understanding.

Science is clearly not lies since you can go to school and study it for yourself. Be sure to go to a GOOD school that actually has you questioning everything and doing experiments yourself. Don't go to a lousy school that just demands you read a textbook and regurgitate it.

You can verify many of the claims of science that you have been questioning on these boards for yourself if you actually take the time to do so.

Also, what is your alternative suggestion for the distance to the sun? How did you come up with your suggested distance, and where's your data?

Don't forget scientist haven't only measured the distance to the sun using various techniques, but they have also calculated it's mass, it's size, and even how long it has been burning and how long it will continue to burn into the future. They even have a very good understanding of precisely how the sun will burn out and how it will behave during that process.

We not only know a lot about the sun, but we know far more than you are apparently aware of.

Do you realize that at one point in time there was a problem with the number of neutrons being detected coming from the sun. The experimenter's who made the measurement told the theorists that they must have something wrong concerning how the sun works. So the theorists who had calculated how the sun works went back over their entire model searching diligently for an error. They finally came back to the experimental scientists and told them that their model for the sun cannot be wrong unless basic physics is wrong.

So the ball was tossed back to the experimental scientists to recheck their measurements. But they too confirmed that their measurements were indeed correct.

Fortunately the particle physicists stepped forward and saved the day. They discovered that neutrinos can change properties during their 8 minutes of travel between the sun and the earth. And this solved the problem.

Moreover, that 8 minute travel time worked out PERFECTLY in terms of making corrections for the observed experiments.

So they have this down pat.

[PghPanther]

[Replying to post 1 by theStudent]

Is it you goal to remain ignorant of reality in order to keep believing your Bible stories?

Human sensory perception while has helped us survived as hunter/gatherers right up through modern civilization can be easily mislead (ie UFO and abductions, big foot, nessie, etc)...... if not tempered by the objective analysis of the scientific method that can leverage many process and procedures to extend or supersede the inadequacy of human sensory perception of external conditions/observations to arrive at a consistent an predictable model of reality...........

And you want to remain ignorant of that?

[H.sapiens]

[Replying to post 1 by theStudent]

Don't you know that objects that are further away appear smaller?

[benchwarmer]

[Replying to post 1 by theStudent]

Don't you know that objects that are further away appear smaller?

Unless you are looking in the side view mirror at a T-rex.

[theStudent]

[Replying to post 2 by Talishi]

Thanks.
Sounds sensible to me.
The size of the sun would seem to make it visible from immense distances, as long as there is nothing to cloud our vision.
Considering the size of the sun, I am amazed at the fact that there are stars that actually make the sun seem like "nothing".
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