Heliocentricity

The distance to the closest stars has been measured by astronomers using an effect called parallax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax). This measurement depends on the assumption of the heliocentric model because one measures the position of a star at two times while earth rotates around the sun. (Parallax can be observed with a simple example. One can see the position of one’s outstretched finger will appear to be different relative to the background when you look through your right or left eye.) For example, parallax measurements suggest that Sirius (Mrgavyadha) is about 8.6 light years away. If the stars are so far away, then they have to be irradiating light like our sun. A distance of 8.6 lights years is much larger than the diameter of the universe given in the Bhagavatam (i.e. 4 billion miles, equivalent to approx 8 light minutes).

Using parallax, one can measure the distance to only the nearby stars. For the more distant stars, astronomers have developed a scale using the “magnitude” (brightness) of the stars. But this scale depends on knowing the absolute magnitude of specific stars, whose distance has been measured by parallax. In summary, the astronomers have assumed the correctness of the heliocentric model in calculating the distances to all of the stars.

If the heliocentric model is wrong and the earth is stationary, then the parallax measurements are wrong, and the stars are much closer than the scientists think.

-Bhù-gola tattv- Science of the Round Earth – Introduction, edited by H.H.Danavir Goswami

Hare Krishna