You forgot the other part of the math equation: The size of the sun.
The size of the sun is 1392000 kilometers across, and as for distance, 1520000 km.
To calculate how much smaller things become by distance, you can use the angular size formula. I found an online calculator that would do the math, and the final result is 5.24 degrees.
Well, that's 5 degrees of the sky that the sun should take up then, and that's about how it looks any time I look upwards. As for the inverse law, you'd be right, except that our eye is a lens, and takes all the light it receives across the entire surface, and focuses it onto a single point: The retina.
Right, that's what NASA, Google, Schools, et al tells us, but how could the lens of their telescope have enabled us to measure the size, or the distance of an object that is supposedly 93 Million miles away?
How do they know it's not 91 Million miles? Or just 1 Million miles?
I can fill the viewfinder of my camera by zooming in on a stop sign a mile away too, but that doesn't tell me its size, or its distance.
So, how do you know the size and distance of the sun? I'm not trying to be a smartass, I really don't know. Did they bounce a radio signal off of it, or shoot a laser at it or something? I mean I suppose that would give you the distance if that was possible.
Loathe as I am to get involved in pointless discussions when people don't want to know the answers, I expect you would struggle to bounce anything off the sun as it is giving out massive amounts of light that would swamp your laser. It would work with the Moon though.
Calculating the distance to the Sun requires careful, accurate observations, but then it's just geometry. The ancient Greeks had a go, but lacked the former.
https://www.universetoday.com/117843/how-did-we-find-the-distance-to-the-sun/
https://www.space.com/17081-how-far-is-earth-from-the-sun.html
I expect thousands of astronomers have taken measurements that will confirm the numbers. The distance does vary as our orbit is not a perfect circle. That was known hundreds of years ago.
We can see the Sun because it is so freaking enormous, as are the stars.
You say you hate maths, but just because you don't understand something does not make it untrue. If you make outrageous claims then you need extraordinary evidence and there are knock-on effects, e.g. if the Sun is close and small then how does it stay hot and what keeps it up? You may do down the concept of theory of gravity, but in science a theory needs to be tested and that one has been for hundreds of years. There have just been minor adjustments for things like relativity which come into play in extreme conditions. Newton got a lot right.
But believe what you want. The engineers and scientists will rely on real evidence.
That's true, but with the scientific method, we also need to complete the rest of the equation. Testable, observable (i see a circle up there, not a sphere), measurable and repeatable.
So, since observations are not actually measuring the distance or the size, how did they come up with the number 93 Million and not 1 Billion or a hundred thousand? A laser? A bounced radio signal?
You do know people have special telescopes that can look at the Sun? Please don't try it yourself or you will go blind. They can see how it curves. The Sun has features. I don't expect you will believe in the probes that have been sent to take a closer look, but I can't be arsed to try and convince you.
I have not looked into the exact details of the measurement, but thousands of astronomers have. Compare that to the few 'sceptics' who have done zero calculations, but think 'it does not seem right'.
This is a pointless exercise if you have already set your mind.
I'm off on a long flight next month. I hope we don't accidentally go over the edge!
Take it easy.
No legit flat earther believes that we are on some sort of disc floating in a space void/vacuum, or able to fall off an edge. That's "Flat Earth Society" bs.
It is not "pointless" to try and prove the actual variables in an equation. "Thousands of scientists", even those whom are "Peer Reviewed" can be wrong. Without a way to measure the distance with a laser, radio signal, etc, then all you have is a theory.
So if you really want to engage in this conversation, I implore you to give me one single proof of the distance, using the Scientific Method.
If you live in Australia and I live in Argentina, can you point a laser or shoot a radio signal at me and tell me the size and distance from you of the ball that I am holding up?
Without knowing what you believe or your qualifications for proof this is a pointless discussion. You can look up scientific papers on such matters, but may not understand them. I'm not an expert on these topics, but I trust others to be. If you lack trust then life gets difficult.
You cannot measure everything with a laser, especially as they only go in straight lines, not around spheres.
If not a laser or radio signal, then how? You gave me 2 links above and neither one of them tells us how they measured the distance from the earth to the sun. You need at least 2 values to complete the equation. Point A to B would be 1 value. You don't have to be an "expert" in a white lab coat to figure that out. Without proof, or a way to even measure it for ourselves, all you have is a theory.
It is not "pointless" to question everything.
But it does. Should be relatively easy mathematics, and depends on the magnification factor of your lens and the distance you would be able to fill the STOP sign from when using the shortest focal length of the lens.
Say if you can fill the viewfinder at 2 meters with a 75-300mm lens at 75mm, you should be able to multiply the distance with the zoom factor, which in that case would be 4.
So here's a real-life example, I took two photos of a smallish painting (sized 33cm × 20cm) in my flat, filling the viewfinder at 300mm and 75mm, and it checks out. At 300mm I was 5 meters away, and when shooting at 75mm, the distance was only 1.20m.
For copyright reasons I can't post the photos of the paintings, but you can actually try it out yourself. Calculate the zoom factor of your lens by dividing the longest focal length with the shortest of your lens, then apply that when shooting the stop sign. In my case, if the mile-away STOP sign filled out the viewfinder, I would just divide the distance by 4, and find out I should walk three quarters of a mile closer to fill the viewfinder at 75mm.
Oh, and also that the STOP sign is really huge.
Edit: If you want to know the actual size of the STOP sign, you can do that too. Shoot something that you know the size of, by filling the viewfinder, then apply those measurements and the distance you shot it in, to calculate the size of the STOP sign.