The autumnal equinox has arrived, marking the beginning of the northern hemisphere season. On Sunday, September 23rd, the Sun shone directly at the Earth's equator, and the length of day and night was the same across the globe … or disk if you are a supporter of the theory that the Earth is flat.
For example, how can you explain the change of seasons without tilting the earth's axis, in which a rotating spherical earth tilts its poles towards or away from the sun? How to explain the sunrises and sunsets, if the Sun constantly shines on the entire flat surface of the planet? And if the North Pole is located strictly in the center of the world, can there be compass directions?
During the entire existence of the flat earth theory, its supporters have found many answers to these questions.
The sun is as small as a spotlight
On the most popular flat-earth maps, the North Pole is located roughly at the center of the planetary disk, while Antarctica forms a giant ice wall along the planet's circumference, and the equator is a circular corridor between them.
Many adherents of this theory agree that the sun during the equinox follows exactly above the equatorial ring; however, to obtain equal daytime and nighttime hours, the models use several parameters of how the sun looks and behaves.
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If the "globulars" imagine the Sun as a huge ball of exploding gas located 150 million kilometers away, then "flat-earthers" see it as a tiny tiny searchlight hovering above the Earth. According to the explanations of one of the early flat-earth theorists, Samuel Rowbotham, who published Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not a Globe in 1881, the sun is only about 52 km in diameter and is between 640 and 1130 km above the Earth, depending on the month.
Now many followers of the theory believe that the Sun is located 5,000 km above the Earth, but the main idea of Rowbotham remains popular in the community. Here's how members of the Flat Earth Society describe the idea: “The sun moves in a circle around the North Pole. When it is overhead, it is day. When he's not there, it's night. The light of the Sun is visible in a confined space and acts as a searchlight."
The diameter of these solar circles determines the seasons. According to the prevailing version, the Sun is closest to the North Pole in June, and for the next six months, it rotates slowly towards the ice wall at the edge of the world. In December, it changes course and spirals back inward. During the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the sun makes a perfect circle over the equator, casting light on half the earth's disk at any given time. Voila: here's the change of seasons!