Requesting help from scientists/astronomers on the forum.
January 15, 2018 at 12:29 am
(This post was last modified: January 15, 2018 at 12:41 am by vulcanlogician.)
On one of the Christian forums I frequent, I have gotten into a debate with a flat earther. I refuse to debate a conspiracy theory, but I have challenged his assertion that "astronomy is not a science because you cannot manipulate/experiment with the observed objects." To him, astronomy as a scientific endeavor cannot proceed beyond the "hypothesis" phase, and thus cannot be described as a real science.
I have referenced several sources (like the one above) that name astronomy as a science and show how it conforms to scientific method abstractly. What I would like is help finding one or two practical examples of the "experimentation" process as it exists in astronomy.
Thanks.
wikipedia Wrote:Astronomers do experiments, searching for planets around distant stars. Finally, most individual experiments address highly specific topics for reasons of practicality. As a result, evidence about broader topics is usually accumulated gradually.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method#Process
I have referenced several sources (like the one above) that name astronomy as a science and show how it conforms to scientific method abstractly. What I would like is help finding one or two practical examples of the "experimentation" process as it exists in astronomy.
Thanks.
