What is their credibility in what they say astronomers and astrophysicists?
The answer is more than will fit on a little web page(!) All I can say is that their credibility lies in hundreds of years of study, countless thousands of experiments, papers, books, arguments and discussions. Fortunately, all of this information is publicly available! Unfortunately, you can’t suck it all into your head in 5 minutes. I know that’s hard to hear in an age where people expect knowledge and opinions to be acquired and formed instantly But, to appreciate the credibility of astronomers and astrophysicists, I’m afraid there’s little alternative but to do it the old fashioned way–study. I recommend you start by taking an astronomy class at your local community college (I think you’d enjoy it).
Their credibility is based on centuries of documented and peer-reviewed efforts. Asking for evidence of credibility in this forum is sort of difficult, as it would involve years of study. No one can provide that credibility with a few pictures and some well-chosen words. It takes hard work to even understand what is being discussed. If you want evidence of credibility, I would recommend a trip to the nearest university library. There are stacks of physical journals that will occupy your attention for an extended time. Your skepticism is well-warranted; there is nothing wrong with skepticism. However, you should certainly take the time (and it will be a significant time) to really understand what it is you are being skeptical about.
Any astronomer can point a telescope at a tiny patch of sky and see whether what a previous astronomer said was there. This is the ultimate transparency. Images are taken with cameras for a very long time, and digital cameras for at least 20 years (yes, digital cameras were invented for astronomical use), and any astronomer can verify an old image by ensuring the same object is there in a new image. All this is, of course, one astronomer backing up what another astronomer sees, so if you have a basic lack of credibility for what astronomers say at all (as is implied in your question) then you aren’t going to believe what any of them say anyway. It’s all probably a conspiracy, right? But integral to the theories that scientists come up with for the history of the universe is the speed of light, which means that the further away something is, the longer the light has taken to reach our eye or camera. Light from the Sun takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds to reach us. We don’t know what is hap
