Was the Final Experiment a Success?

Is There a 24-Hour Sun in Antarctica?

There is so much diversity of belief among flat-earthers that it is difficult (and frustrating) to nail down the essentials of what all flat-earthers believe, but I will try. Flat-earthers believe that the earth is a plane and that our realm on the plane (what we call earth) has a dome over top (the firmament that God made on day two of the creation week). The North Pole is at the center of the earth. There is no South Pole. The edge of our domain is bounded by Antarctica, beyond which the dome meets the earth (Antarctica is not a continent). The luminaries (the sun, moon, and stars, including wondering stars, or planets) are “in the firmament” (note that flat-earthers interpret the preposition in in that phrase in various ways). Each day, the luminaries move in circles above the flat plane of the earth, with the center of rotation being above the North Pole. The radius of the sun’s daily motion changes throughout the year, with the radius being greatest on the December solstice, and the radius being the least on the June solstice. On the June solstice, the sun moves over the Tropic of Cancer, and on the December solstice, the sun moves over the Tropic of Capricorn.

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This changing radius of rotation for the sun is key to TFE. Flat-earthers would say that the sun’s proximity to the North Pole on the June solstice accounts for there being a 24-hour sun in the Arctic at that time of year. As the sun spins around each day in June, it is never far from the Arctic, so naturally the sun is visible in the Arctic continuously at that time. On the other hand, near the December solstice, the sun is so far from the Arctic that the sun is not visible in the Arctic at that time of year. What about the Antarctic, the region of the earth that is farthest from the North Pole, regardless of the earth’s shape? Flat-earthers reason that near the June solstice the sun is very far from the Antarctic, so the sun is not visible at that time of year. What about the December solstice? The sun is closest to the Antarctic in December, when the sun is over the Tropic of Capricorn. Hence, the sun would be visible in the Antarctic in December. But keep in mind that Antarctica is a ring around the perimeter of the flat earth. Therefore, the sun would be visible at noon at any location in the Antarctic, but 12 hours later, the sun would have rotated to the other side of the earth so that it is as far as possible from that same location, so the sun could not be visible. Indeed, many flat-earthers had claimed that while there is a 24-hour sun in the Arctic in June, there is no 24-hour sun in Antarctic in December.

Because people live in the Arctic, such as in parts of Scandinavia and Alaska, there are many time-lapse videos of a 24-hour sun in the Arctic that are readily available on the internet. But there are relatively few time-lapse videos of a 24-hour sun made in Antarctica. Flat-earthers have noted this disparity and claimed it as evidence that the earth is flat. When confronted with time-lapse videos of a 24-hour sun in Antarctica, flat-earthers dismiss those videos as fake (this is a common response flat-earthers have when confronted with evidence that contradicts their belief in flat earth).

There is a reason why there are so few Antarctic time-lapse videos—there are no nations in the Antarctic, and so, no people live there.

There is a reason why there are so few Antarctic time-lapse videos—there are no nations in the Antarctic, and so, no people live there. The reason for this is how climatically different the Arctic and Antarctic are. The Arctic is an ocean mostly surrounded by continents, while the Antarctic is a continent surrounded by oceans. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) spins west to east around Antarctica. The ACC is the largest current on earth, and its water is very cold, which prevents warmth from reaching Antarctica. On the other hand, the presence of North America and Eurasia in the Northern Hemisphere prevents a similar current from encircling the Arctic. Instead, there is a gyre, a counterclockwise circular current, in both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean. Some of the water from either gyre is diverted into the Arctic Ocean. Some Pacific water passes through the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia, but more important is the Gulf Stream that transports relatively warm water into the Arctic on either side of Greenland. It is the warming effect of these currents that make parts of the Arctic inhabitable when similar southern latitudes in Antarctica are not inhabitable.

This disparity in geography and climate between the Arctic and Antarctic make it much more difficult to travel to Antarctica than to travel to the Arctic. In the Arctic, there are cities and airports. Furthermore, some Arctic locations can be reached via railways and highways. There are no corresponding infrastructures in the Antarctic. For a century, the Antarctic was visited only by explorers and scientists, but now, Antarctic vacations are possible, though they are much more expensive than Arctic vacations. Consequently, some flat-earthers have ventured into the Arctic in June to make their time-lapse videos of the 24-hour sun, but no flat-earthers had bothered to go to Antarctica.

In addition to the expense of going to Antarctica, flat-earthers have another excuse—they say that the 1959 Antarctic Treaty prohibits civilians from going past 60 degrees south latitude. I’ve read the Antarctic Treaty. It doesn’t say that. The treaty recognizes the pristine nature of Antarctica and seeks to preserve it. Antarctica is very dry—it qualifies as a desert. Very little snow falls, with what little snow falling each year subliming so that over much of Antarctica there is no accumulation of additional ice. Consequently, anything discarded or spilled will remain there a very long time. I understand that the trail to the top of Mt. Everest is littered with discarded items and even human waste strewn along it. To prevent that, literally everything taken to Antarctica must be packed back out. A similar policy is mandated on the annual raft trips through Grand Canyon that I help lead. This greatly adds to the cost of Antarctic expeditions and vacations.

What Is TFE?

Will Duffy is the pastor of a small church in Denver, Colorado. Will encountered a person who believed that the earth is flat, which prompted him to investigate the flat-earth movement. As Will investigated this, two pastors, Dean Odle and Greg Locke, had a debate on the question of the earth’s shape. In that debate, Dean said that what could settle the debate would be a trip to Antarctica to see if there is a 24-hour sun there in December. To see this, let us compare the expectations/predictions of the globe earth and the flat earth.

The first diagram shows the conventional understanding of things. The circle represents the earth. The vertical solid line is perpendicular to the orbital plane of the earth. The dashed line represents the rotation axis of the earth, which is tilted 23.4 degrees from the vertical. The sun is 93 million miles to the left, so its rays reach the earth nearly parallel to one another, as illustrated by the six arrows arriving from the left. This is the situation at the June solstice. The red circle indicates the Arctic, the region of the earth within 23.4 degrees latitude of the North Pole, and the green circle represents the Antarctic, the region of the earth within 23.4 degrees latitude of the South Pole. Notice that on the June solstice, the sun’s rays reach every part of the Arctic, but that none of the sun’s rays reach any part of the Antarctic. Therefore, on the June solstice, the entire Arctic enjoys 24 hours of the sun above the horizon, while the sun is below the horizon for 24 hours in the entire Antarctic. On the December solstice six months later, the situation is reversed, with the sun’s rays coming from the right. Then in the Arctic, the sun will be below the horizon for 24 hours and the sun will be above the horizon for 24 hours in the Antarctic.

The second diagram illustrates the situation on a flat earth. The dot at the center of the circles represents the North Pole. The smaller solid circle represents the equator, which is 90 degrees latitude from the North Pole. The larger solid circle represents the locations on the flat earth that are 90 degrees beyond the equator. The smaller dashed circle represents the Tropic of Cancer, and the larger dashed circle represents the Tropic of Capricorn. The small ring represents my location in Northern Kentucky, while the X marks the location that is on my longitude but at 80 degrees south latitude (for reasons that will be explained shortly). The blue sun symbol represents the location of the sun above the flat earth at noon on the December solstice. The date must be the December solstice because the sun is located on the Tropic of Capricorn. The time must be noon because the sun is closest to me in that diagram. Since my location and the X in the Antarctic are on the same meridian of longitude, then it must be noon at X as well (and notice that the sun is closest to X at that time, which would correspond to noon). Where would the sun be 12 hours later? In the flat-earth model, the sun moves around the North Pole each day, so at midnight, the sun must be where the red sun symbol is. Flat-earthers say that the reason that I don’t see the sun at midnight is that the sun is too far away. But notice that when the sun is at the position of the red sun symbol, the sun is farther from the X location in Antarctica than it is from me. Therefore, there can be no 24-hour sun in Antarctica in December.

Summarizing the predictions of the globe-earth and flat-earth models, if the earth is spherical, then there MUST be a 24-hour sun in Antarctica near the December solstice, but if the earth is flat, there CANNOT be a 24-hour sun in Antarctica near the December solstice. That is, if a 24-hour sun is not visible in Antarctica near the December solstice, then the globe-earth is disproved, and we have evidence that the earth is flat, but if there is a 24-hour sun in Antarctica near the December solstice, then the flat earth is disproved, and we have evidence that the earth is a globe.

Knowing this, Will Duffy inquired about organizing a group of flat-earthers and globe-earthers to make a trip to Antarctica in December 2024 to test these predictions together. Will found that Antarctic Logistics Expeditions provides such trips to Union Glacier at nearly 80 degrees south latitude, about 700 miles from the South Pole. The longitude of Union Glacier is close to my longitude in Northern Kentucky. I used an X to mark the spot in the Antarctic because it lines up with my longitude, as indicated in the drawing. The trip is not cheap, but Will was able to provide funding for some flat-earthers to go. Will invited many flat-earthers and globe-earthers to go on this trip. I was invited, but the cost was a bit more than I could justify spending, so I declined. Will offered to fund some flat-earthers, but most of them refused a FREE trip to Antarctica. You can see the list of those who were invited. Ultimately, seven people joined Will on the trip, for a total of four flat-earthers and four globe-earthers. In the group, there were two prominent flat-earthers and two prominent globe-earthers, all of whom have social media presence, such as on YouTube. The two prominent flat-earthers were Austin Whitsitt and Jeran Campanella, and the two prominent globe-earthers were Michael Toon and David McKeegan.

The trip began and ended in Punta Arenas, Chile, near the southern tip of South America. The flights between Punta Arenas and Union Glacier takes about four hours. The flights critically depend upon the weather, so these flights often are moved up several days or delayed several days. Therefore, participants were required to arrive several days before the scheduled trip and to remain in Punta Arenas for a few days afterward. As it turned out, the crew went to Union Glacier on the day planned, but they returned to Punta Arenas a couple of days early, leaving a little more than 24 hours spent at Union Glacier. Fortunately, the weather there was nearly perfect, with mostly cloudless skies for 24 hours. Michael and David were well prepared with many experiments and multiple cameras to record the sun. There was a 24-hour sun as predicted by the globe-earth model. Rocket Rob Webb and I interviewed Will about TFE before and after his trip to Antarctica on the Answers in Genesis YouTube channel. TFE has a YouTube channel where you can watch a time-lapse video of the sun and much more. You can see Michael Toon’s videos from the trip and much more here.

What Was the Response of Flat-Earthers to TFE?

As it became clear in the months leading up to TFE that this trip was going to happen, many flat-earthers began to backpedal on their earlier claims.

Remember that for yearsm flat-earthers claimed that there is no 24-hour sun in Antarctica, going so far as to denounce time-lapse videos of the 24-hour sun in Antarctica as fake. As it became clear in the months leading up to TFE that this trip was going to happen, many flat-earthers began to backpedal on their earlier claims. Some flat-earthers started claiming that there might be a second sun that provides the 24-hour sun in Antarctica. Other flat-earthers started to claim that the sun might be reflected off the dome, giving the illusion of a 24-hour sun in Antarctica. With the wide diversity of beliefs among flat-earthers that I already mentioned, there were variations on this theme. The upshot was that just months prior to TFE, many flat-earthers were changing their story. That revealed a lack of confidence and even dishonesty among flat-earthers. That is in stark contrast to the confidence that globe-earthers had prior to TFE. Before the trip, Michael Toon collected what the response of prominent critics of the flat-earth movement would be if there were no 24-hour sun in Antarctica. You can see those responses, including mine, here. Reading those, you can readily see that, unlike flat-earthers, we had complete confidence in the globe-earth prediction.

In the wake of TFE, it was clear that Jeran was struggling with the 24-hour sun that he witnessed. It took a few weeks, but Jeran eventually announced that he was wrong about the earth being flat. He has since discussed other problems with the earth being flat. After two months, Robbie Davidson announced that he was wrong about the earth being flat and apologized. Robbie Davidson was the man who organized and ran the Flat Earth International Conferences (FEICs). I went to and reported on the three FEICs in the United States in 2017, 2018, and 2019. I met Robbie at the FEICs, and I recently had a phone conversation with him. Robbie always treated me well, and I am very glad that he has now left the flat-earth cult. Less well-known flat-earthers who changed their minds after TFE are Nick Havok, Austin Thompson (MellowDome), and Rose777. Patricia Steere reportedly decided that the earth is not flat. Patricia was prominent in the flat-earth movement early on, but five years ago, she stopped being active because of the many malicious attacks upon her by other flat-earthers (there are many nasty people in the flat-earth movement). Alex Stein is famous for far other things, but he indicated support for the flat-earth movement but has since changed his mind about the earth’s shape. More defections are likely.

What has the response from other flat-earthers been to these defections from the flat-earth cult? Mostly vicious. Many other flat-earthers have denounced those who left the movement as never being true flat-earthers in the first place. It is a mystery to me what motivation a person would have for being a deep plant in the flat-earth movement for a decade. If it is money, I don’t see that they made enough money off flat earth to make it worth their while. If they did make much money off flat earth, doesn’t that impugn the motives of those still in the flat-earth movement who make money off selling merchandise and accepting tips on the social media platforms they operate from? It is difficult to rail against others for allegedly having a profit motivation when the accusers are guilty of the same.

How have those remaining in the flat-earth movement responded to TFE? It has been all over the place. As I mentioned earlier, many flat-earthers now claim that the flat-earth model predicts a 24-hour sun in Antarctica. It is difficult to take this claim seriously when a little more than a year ago most flat-earthers said exactly the opposite. But it gets worse. Remember Dean Odle, who in his debate with Greg Locke said that observing the sun in Antarctica in December would decide this? Now Dean is saying that it was Satan that cleared the skies during the time that TFE team was in Antarctica, and that Satan then took the form of something that looked like the sun to fool those watching to think there was a 24-hour sun when there wasn’t. Other flat-earthers are claiming that the entire trip was faked. One direction this went in was to claim that TFE team was in the Arctic, where we all agree there is a 24-hour sun. There are two huge problems with that. First, the team definitely was in Punta Arenas before flying to Antarctica. A flight from Punta Arenas to the Arctic probably would take 16 hours or so, not four hours, and it would require flying north, not south (even the flat-earthers on the trip realized that they were going south, not north). Second, the 24-hour sun in the Arctic is in June, not December. Some flat-earthers claim that the 24-hour sun videos were shot last June and were shown in reverse. The globe-earthers on the trip anticipated this, so they intentionally discussed recent sports scores on the live feed that would not have been possible to know last June. Then there was the problem of walking around backward and talking backward on the live feeds. Other flat-earthers claimed that it was a fake, man-made sun that went around the sky over 24 hours. Another version had the 24-hour sun faked with LED screens in a spherical dome like the one in Las Vegas.

Conclusion

One of the hallmarks of a cult is to believe all sorts of fantastic things to maintain belief in the central teachings of the cult.

These excuses illustrate the desperation of people in the flat-earth movement to explain away the most uncomfortable fact of a 24-hour sun in Antarctica. The excuses also demonstrate the mindset of the people trapped in the flat-earth movement. In the face of such devastating evidence, flat-earthers must concoct all manner of wild speculations to prop up their belief in the earth being flat. TFE ought to have ended the debate, and for sane, reasonable people, it did. So are those people who still maintain that the earth is flat insane and/or irrational? Perhaps. Or perhaps they are simply in a cult. One of the hallmarks of a cult is to believe all sorts of fantastic things to maintain belief in the central teachings of the cult.