Beaver letter: Solar eclipse

I’ve often thought of Letters to the Editor as the adult comic page. Occasionally, one reads a letter that holds the adage true: It’s better to think one is ignorant than to opens one’s mouth and remove all doubt. Never is this more evident than the letter written by Richard Ringelstetter in the Opinion section on Sunday, Sept. 3, titled “Science.” He may be using sarcasm, but he alleges the recent solar eclipse was faked along with the Apollo landings. He even attacks orbital dynamics. First, 2+2 will always equal 4. You have no concept of physics: what math is or does. Second, the Apollo hoax was discredited years ago. Bill Kaysing, the founder of the hoax, said “I’ll shut up when they go to the moon and photograph the landing sites.” That was done. The LRO has photographed the entire moon down to decameter resolution. Kaysing’s lunar web page is gone. Lastly, how can anyone fake a solar eclipse? Eclipses have been predicted, by math, for centuries. How will scientists fake the next eclipse that will cross the U.S. from Texas to Maine in April, 2024? I suppose they could put a large disk into orbit and block the sun. What would this accomplish ... and the cost?

This story was originally published September 15, 2017 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Beaver letter: Solar eclipse."