It’s one of the biggest conspiracy theories of all time, and it’s now reached the Big Brother house.
In a recent episode of the ITV show, two housemates – Marcus and Elsa – reveal that they’re ‘Flat Earthers’ – meaning they don’t think our planet is a globe.
During a downright bizarre conversation, Marcus says: ‘I think there is still very good evidence that suggests the world is flat.’
When asked by another housemate for said evidence, he replies: ‘Well if you actually look at the horizon, it’s a straight line.’
Marcus then claims all pictures from space are ‘obviously’ fake made by AI and that humans have never been to the moon.
Meanwhile, fellow Flat Earther Elsa adds ‘I don’t think space is real’ and claims we’re living inside a dome.
Now, a scientist gives his brutal verdict – instantly rubbishing one of the most common Flat Earth myths.
Dr Ian Whittaker, a lecturer in physics at Nottingham Trent University, said the Flat Earth movement is ‘growing ever bigger unfortunately’.
People who believe the idea that the Earth is disc-shaped rather than spherical are called ‘Flat Earthers’ – one of the most prominent conspiracy theories today
In a recent episode of the ITV show, two housemates – Marcus and Elsa – insist the Earth is flat and that photos from space are fake, my by AI
According to the expert, the reason why we see a straight horizon is quite simple – because we are on the ground rather than in space.
At ground level, we only see a few miles from one side of the horizon to the other, which is not enough to see the curvature of the Earth.
In reality, the curvature of the Earth can only be seen from space.
It’s only when we’re in space – and at the required height to see enough of the Earth’s circumference – that we can perceive the curve.
‘The reason why we don’t see the horizon curve off is simply scale,’ Dr Whittaker told the Daily Mail.
‘As an analogy, you look at a basketball and see the full curvature because you are massive compared to it.
‘Now imagine a microbe on the surface, what would it see?
‘It would just be a vast expanse of flat area because its height compared to the curvature of the ball is tiny.’
We only perceive the curve of the Earth from space. Pictured, the curvature of Earth with the sun shining on the Caspian Sea from the vantage point of the International Space Station (ISS), 262 miles up
Pictured, the curvature of Earth as seen from Concorde, which flew at a maximum altitude of 60,000 feet (11 miles)
If a person were suddenly 12 miles (20km) tall, they theoretically might start seeing the curvature on a wide expanse, although this is still less than 1 per cent of the Earth’s radius.
‘If you wanted to be 5 per cent of the Earths radius up then we are talking about a person about 200 miles (320km) tall,’ the academic added.
‘Compare that back to the basketball, equivalent to 0.6cm or twice the height of an ant, and you should see it a little more clearly.
‘Although of course aircraft do not fly this high due to how thin the air gets.’
Humanity first understood the true shape of our planet more than 2,000 years ago – but the internet can largely be blamed for a growing Flat Earth community.
Greek philosopher Pythagoras proposed that the Earth was round around 500 BC, but it was about 350 BC that Aristotle declared Earth was a sphere.
This was based on observations Aristotle had made about which constellations you could see in the sky as you travelled further and further away from the equator.
‘This was a magical revelation for the Greeks and the Egyptians, who were able to see from the motions of the stars and the way the sun moved,’ said Dr James Garvin, chief scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
‘They took that information and it extended into the time of the great mariners that explored our Earth by ships.’
Fast-forward to the 20th and 21st centuries, humans have been able to witness with their own eyes the stunning curvature of the Earth.
‘At the dawn of the space age, in the late 50s and 60s, we were able to see for ourselves that our beautiful home is a gorgeous round object known as a sphere,’ Dr Garvin said.
‘And that was really special – it put ourselves into context of our solar system and our universe.’
Now, spaceflight is more accessible than ever thanks to space tourism companies like Blue Origin.
And although a space trip currently costs hundreds of thousands of pounds per head, the price could fall as the industry matures.
Perhaps by the 2030s, Flat Earthers like Marcus and Elsa from Big Brother will be able to take a trip up to space themselves to see that they’re truly wrong.
