No dispute with plane trig.
The math checks out. I’m just saying, you will never measure this for yourself.
Other methods of measuring the distance to moon include laser ranging, which was done before the first (fake) Apollo missions. But can I verify this? No, because just like you can’t measure your observers angle to any accuracy, I can’t obtain a powerful laser like this. It is still an appeal to authority.
Do you apply this logic to everything? When you plan a road trip do you dispute the distance of the route until you drive it for yourself just to make sure?
No, I just assume that a thousand people have already driven that route and Google maps makes adjustments based on their times and topographical spy plane data it collects. But yeah, I am skeptical of scientific claims. When NASA comes out with a story about how it rains diamonds on some faraway planet in another galaxy, I dismiss it as unknowable.
In my experience, no one who talks about “it’s easy; you can measure x for yourself” on the internet has ever backed up their claims with proof that they themselves have made said measurement or performed said experiment.
In my experience, no one who talks about “it’s easy; you can measure x for yourself” on the internet has ever backed up their claims with proof that they themselves have made said measurement or performed said experiment.
In terms of rigorous debate, they don't need to. If someone disputes a theory, hypothesis, observation, or anything else, the burden lies with them. If your argument is that the distance to the Moon is not 237,000 miles, you've got to tell us what the distance is and how you measured it. If you don't dispute it, there's nothing to talk about.
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