Flat Earther has unexpected comeback after people claimed selfie taken from top of Mount Everest proved Earth is round

Flat Earthers were shot down in one fell swoop by a selfie taken atop Mount Everest - or so everyone thought.

We may all laugh at Flat Earthers when they come at us arguing Earth more likely resembles a sheet of paper opposed to an orange, but in one instance, one of the believers actually made an unexpected and pretty punchy comeback.

Sick of hearing Flat Earthers insisting the Earth is well, flat, one Reddit user seemingly went to the great lengths to silence them and decided to climb Mount Everest to prove them otherwise.

Taking to Reddit thread r/pics, the user u/amazed_spirit shared an apparent selfie on the tip top of the mountain.

And on the peak of the Earth's highest mountain above sea level, the Earth very much appears curved.

The caption reads: "Checkmate flat Earth society."

However, it didn't take long for people to flood to the comments in concern over the image.

U/SadConfiguration said: "You can’t see the curvature of the earth from the top of Everest. That’s a fisheye lens. Flat earthers are a waste of skin but don’t be fooled into thinking you can see the curvature of the earth from 29,000ft. If that were true you could see it from plane windows."

A user - who's since deleted their account - wrote: "There is better evidence of earth being a globe than a fisheye-lens photo (namely science done thousands of years ago & verified ad nauseum)."

"Tbh, this was taken with a pretty severe fisheye. Even at 50k feet the earth looks only a little round," u/PositiveRate wrote.

And these people are factually correct. According to World Atlas, a person standing on the summit of Mount Everest would be able to see 230 miles into the distance - which is not enough to see the curvature of the Earth. The actual threshold to see a slight curve in the Earth is reportedly set at around 35,000ft but you would also need to view it with a 60 degree angle of vision.

And even after this information, one Flat Earther decided to investigate the image even further.

On the Flat Earth Society forums, Pete Svarrior revealed he did a 'quick Google reverse image search' which came up with the 'original photograph'.

He continues: "Sure enough, it wasn’t taken in 2018, and sure enough it has nothing to do with the Reddit user. It was actually taken in 2012 by Dean Carriere.

"More importantly, Dean was kind enough not to strip EXIF data from the photograph. A copy of the (seemingly) unaltered original file can be found here.

"Anyway, let’s finish stating the obvious, now that no speculation is required. The photo was taken with a GoPro Hero3-Silver Edition with a (35mm-film-equivalent) focal length of 16mm. It’s an ultra wide-angle lens, and so the entire image is distorted."

And as you can see in picture post adjustment, well, the curve is nowhere near as dramatic as the Reddit user's post or the photograph with the lens effect still in play.

Although, the remaining slighter curve Svarrior puts down to an 'irregular' occurrence which he attributes to 'imperfections in both the lens and the correction algorithm' of course.

Just because the Flat Earthers were right about the image, doesn't mean they're right about the shape of Earth - let's not get too carried away now.

Featured Image Credit: Reddit/u/ amazed_spirit/ Getty Stock Photo

Topics: Reddit, Social Media, World News, Science

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.