Over the weekend of January 20-21, skywatchers across much of the Western Hemisphere witnessed the spectacular Super Blood Wolf Moon, a total lunar eclipse where the moon passes through Earth’s shadow, appearing red due to the scattering of sunlight in Earth’s atmosphere. However, flat-Earth conspiracy theorists suggested an alternative explanation for this celestial event. According to their unique perspective, the lunar eclipse provided a rare opportunity to observe a mysterious “shadow object” orbiting the sun, occasionally passing in front of the moon. While flat-Earth believers assert that Earth is flat, they surprisingly propose that the sun and moon are spherical, orbiting Earth’s north pole above the flat surface.
In the flat-Earth narrative, both the sun and the moon never orbit around to the other side of the pancake-shaped Earth, hovering perpetually above. This perspective poses a challenge for lunar eclipses, which require the moon to be on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun. In response, flat-Earthers concocted a new explanation for the shadow seen on the moon during an eclipse.
The Flat Earth Wiki, hosted by The Flat Earth Society, presents this mysterious “shadow object” as the cause behind all lunar eclipses. The theorists offer no details about the object’s size, shape, composition, or origin, asserting its invisibility when not obscuring the moon. According to their claim, the shadow object remains unseen in the sky due to its close orbit to the sun.
The Flat Earth Wiki mentions a tilted orbit of about 5.15 degrees to the sun’s orbital plane for the proposed shadow object. Coincidentally, this mirrors the tilt of the moon’s orbit in reality. However, the Flat Earth Society does not provide any calculations supporting this number, raising questions about its origin. The wiki suggests a possibility that the shadow object is a known celestial body, but astronomers have already charted the orbits of planets, making it clear that none will come between Earth and the moon in the near future.
In conclusion, the flat-Earth explanation for lunar eclipses stands in stark contrast to established astronomical principles, reaffirming the spherical nature of our planet and the conventional understanding of celestial mechanics.