Evidence Lab
One claim about the shape of the Earth per page: what the Flat Earth model and the globe each predict, the observed data with its sources, and a test you can run yourself.
Astronomy and geodesy describe the Earth as a slightly flattened sphere about 12,742 km across, with the Sun about 150 million km away (NASA: Earth facts). FlatAtlas shows the published flat-Earth models next to that, so you can compare both with what you see.
- Sydney to Santiago flight time: flat Earth vs globeQantas QF27 flies nonstop from Sydney to Santiago. See the route on the flat Earth map and on the globe next to what Flightradar24 recorded.Run the test
- The Eratosthenes experiment: flat Earth or globe?Two Sun angles measured at the same moment, read two ways: the Sun’s height over a flat Earth or the size of a globe. Compare both with your own measurement.Run the test
How to read an evidence map
Each page takes one claim that is cited in the flat Earth debate and splits it into smaller statements you can measure: an angle, a distance, a speed. For every statement the page shows three columns side by side.
- Flat Earth model: the figure the published model gives, with the model’s own explanation in its authors’ terms and a link to where they say it.
- Globe: the figure astronomy and geodesy give for the same place and moment, with its source.
- Observed: a real record only, such as the positions and times Flightradar24 logged for a flight. A calculation is never filed here, not even the globe’s. When no independent record exists yet, the page says so and explains how to measure it yourself.
Above the columns is the claim itself, marked with who cites it, so you can see why the question matters to each side. Below them is a test: a 3D scene, a form or a flight you can replay with the same numbers.
The data-quality scale
Every figure and every source carries one of four labels. The scale describes how a figure was obtained, and it is the same for both sides. It does not rate which model is right.
- You can check it yourself
- Instrument record
- Calculation from a model
- Single report
Where the numbers come from
The figures are computed with the same code as the 3D app, never typed in by hand. The Flat Earth Society places the Sun about 3,000 miles (4,800 km) above Gleason’s map and the Moon “several thousand miles” up, which FlatAtlas draws at 3,200 km; Rowbotham (1881) places the Sun 700 miles (about 1,100 km) up and the Moon “nearer than the sun”, drawn at 700 km. Globe positions come from Astronomy Engine, and globe distances follow the great circle on a sphere 6,371 km in radius. Flight records are checked against Flightradar24, and the pages are recalculated when newer flights are verified.
Sources and wording
A model is described with its own authors’ figures and words. Quotations are copied exactly and linked; a paraphrase is marked as one. Every source is listed with the date it was last checked. The pages leave the conclusion to you and avoid labels such as “debunked” or “proof”.
Coming next
Further claims in preparation: the midnight Sun in Antarctica, sunset times and time zones, Polaris from the southern hemisphere, different stars in the north and the south, the south celestial pole, ships that disappear hull first, the horizon from high altitude, and the Earth’s shadow in a lunar eclipse.