Ironically, when Aristarchus proposed the heliocentric model, his contemporaries dismissed it, on the grounds that they did not observe any parallax effects… The heliocentric model would have implied that the stars were an absurdly large distance away.
Which, of course, they are.
— The Cosmic Distance Ladder - Terence Tao
This is the single best presentation I have ever read. It has no equations, but it has history and science, and is extremely well written. It’s also by Terry Tao, hero among men, so please go read it. I promise you will enjoy it and you will learn something.
