Flat-Earthers Think The Solar Eclipse Proves Their Theory

Thanks, flat earthers: you're why we can't have nice things.

After the whole world went astronomy crazy this last week - or at least got a little over-excited about the idea of Bonnie Tyler singing Total Eclipse of the Heart in the middle of a total eclipse - there had to be one group willing to take everyone back down to earth with a bump, and it turns out that the nefarious online Flat Earth community are exactly those narks.

After NASA posted some awe-inspiring videos of the cosmic ballet going on, online nay-sayers were ready to step in and poke holes with the eggheads and their silly facts and statistics.

One user tweeted a photo originally posted by NASA that showed the International Space Station alongside the shadow of the moon on the earth - exactly displaying where the eclipse was taking place - with the comment: "This is seriously the dumbest CGI I've seen yet! #FlatEarth #NASALIES #NASA #SolarEclipse".

Credit: PA

Rapper B.o.B - a known flat earther - also weighed in on the eclipse:

Others were to be found on YouTube picking holes with the quite evident logic that, when the moon goes in front of the sun, it tends to have an affect on the quality of light elsewhere.

One, called "FAKE ECLIPSE August 21 Something Went Wrong", point fingers at NASA for supposedly photoshopping in an image of the International Space Station before delving into a lengthy - we've watched it so you don't have to - discussion of the refraction of light around the moon and the way that NASA somehow...OK maybe we didn't get to the end either. It was pretty dull, and not just because the light was blocked by the moon.

Credit: PA

They also posted clips suggesting that the eclipse took place an hour before it was meant to happen and that clearly meant that it didn't happen at all. Clearly, something else eclipsed the sun and we don't know what did.

Still, it has garnered some 155,000 views, proving nothing scientifically, but proving that people will watch almost anything on the internet, including us. Next time, we might just stick to our usual diet of cat videos, goals compilations and Simpsons clips.

Topics: flat earth

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19