Flat Earth

Do jumpy cuts in the asparagus-eating video recorded by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield while in the zero-gravity environment in 2013 prove it was shot in a "Hollywood basement," outer space does not exist and Earth is flat? No, that's not true: In 2015, Hadfield, who became known not only as a space explorer but also as a space video blogger,…

Have temperatures in Antarctica not increased in more than 70 years? No, that's not true: A climatologist and global climate expert told Lead Stories that it is "evident that temperatures are increasing across the Antarctic." According to official data, land surface temperatures in the region have increased an average of .16 degrees Fahrenheit (.09 degrees Celsius) per decade since 1950,…

Is Mount Meru, a magnetic mountain, located at or under the North Pole at the center of a flat Earth -- and is this mountain the reason why all compasses point to the magnetic north? No, that's not true: In Hindu and Buddhist mythology, Mount Meru is the central axis of the world where gods live and the sun and…

Does a video on social media show former NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg faking a visit to the International Space Station (ISS) in front of a green screen? No, that's not true: In the original version of the clip, the narrator never identifies the woman in the video as Nyberg. He calls her Paige. One iteration of the video posted by…

Did the word "horizon" come from the word "horizontal," and is this evidence that the Earth must be flat? No, that's not true: The word "horizon" came first, and the adjective "horizontal" followed. The adjective describes something "relating to or near the horizon." The word "horizon" originated from the ancient Greek term "ὁρίζων κύκλος" (horízōn kýklos), which means "separating (or…

Did an aerial video capture a deep and wide chasm in the Earth's crust in southern Turkey's Hatay province, part of the area hit by earthquakes in early February 2023? No, that's not true: This video footage does not show earthquake fault lines in Turkey. It shows China's Loess Plateau, which is a drainage basin for the Yellow River. The…

Does a time-lapse video of the midnight sun in Alaska show that the sun appears to get smaller as it approaches the horizon -- thus proving that this is a "local sun" that is very close to Earth in a closed environment, part of the firmament? No, that's not true: The footage of slightly more than one full day has…

Do NASA documents say that we live on a "flat, nonrotating earth"? No, that's not true: NASA does not believe in a flat-Earth theory of any kind. While the term "flat, nonrotating earth" does appear in NASA documents, it's not referring to the structure of the planet but instead citing mechanisms and assumptions used to analyze flight. In a February…

Does the 1958 Encyclopedia Americana prove the Earth is flat? No, that's not true: A "dome" referenced in a 1958 encyclopedia entry describes a naturally occurring ice dome and not the firmament -- a supposed planet-encompassing dome conspiracy theorists believe supports the flat Earth claim. A mapping expert confirmed to Lead Stories that a well-documented ice dome is located at…

Does a video of satellite imagery showing what a post describes as a "massive underwater wall" stretching from "pole to pole" prove that the Earth is flat? No, that's not true: A video of Google Earth seafloor mapping data depicted in the post shows what's known to mapping analysts as a "digital seam," or a location of the ocean floor…