Conspiracy: Are Stars Near Earth?

The size discrepancy in two NASA photos of the moon and Earth is due to a difference in perspective, with the image taken from farther away zooming in, making the Earth look larger. Shorter exposure imagery of Earth typically does not record stars as they are too dim compared to the brightness of the planet. Astronauts generally use exposure settings and other factors to make stars visible sometimes and not at other times.

At the annual meeting of AAAS, which publishes Science, Mack discussed space and physics disinformation. People who suggest the Moon landing didn’t happen are often called conspiracy theorists because they believe it was a hoax set up by NASA. All other planets in the solar system are stars with strong radiance that are being investigated. A mysterious signal emanating from the closest star to our own sun led scientists on a nearly yearlong hunt to track down its origin, resulting in the discovery of the Orion Arm, one of the spiral arms of our Milky Way galaxy.

In August, researchers reported the discovery of a potentially habitable, Earth-sized planet orbiting the Sun’s closest stellar neighbor—Proxima Centauri, a mere 1.3 parsecs, or 4.22 light. The flat Earth conspiracy ignores the problems with its own claims and tries to open a debate that has been settled for more than 2000 years. Flat Earthers falsely claim that Polaris remains motionless in the sky as all other stars circle it.

Many ancient cultures subscribed to a flat-Earth conception of the Earth’s shape as a plane or disk. Michael Marshall, project director of the Good Thinking Society in the UK, talks about flat Earth belief and its relationship to conspiracy theories and other scientific claims.