What height can you see the curvature of the earth

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. How high must one be for the curvature of the earth to be visible to the eye? Ask Question. Asked 5 years, 10 months ago. Active 2 years ago. Viewed k times. I've noticed that at the height of Km the view from from aeroplanes it is not visible.

Improve this question. Semidiurnal Simon 5, 1 1 gold badge 19 19 silver badges 42 42 bronze badges. Mani Mani 3 3 gold badges 7 7 silver badges 11 11 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. I took two pictures of a distant boat, within an interval of a few seconds: one from the lowest deck of the ship left image , the other one from our highest observation platform about 16 m higher; picture on the right : A distant boat seen from 6 m left and from 22 m right above the sea surface.

The plot is like this: Distance of visibility d vertical axis, in km , as a function of the elevation h of the observer above the sea level horizontal axis, in m. This results in this dependence between gamma vertical axis and h horizontal axis : Angle of the horizon below the flat-Earth horizon gamma , in degrees, on the vertical axis of this plot as a function of the observer's elevation h above the surface meters. Improve this answer.

Essentially I found en. I think now that the ships and Aristotle's stars that become invisible as one wanders south must have give some hard hints that Earth is spherical, Eratothenes later then measured its curvature. Also the guy named en. But since, I have already accepted an answer above so I can't accept yours, But this answer is not less than an acceptable answer You may but are not, by any means, required to change the accepted answer if a newer, better answer comes along later.

Show 2 more comments. The abstract states: Reports and photographs claiming that visual observers can detect the curvature of the Earth from high mountains or high-flying commercial aircraft are investigated.

Many flights won't get this high, and very few will go significantly higher. As the quotation states, you need a nearly cloud-free horizon to perceive the curvature. Pont Pont 5, 2 2 gold badges 25 25 silver badges 43 43 bronze badges. Thanks for your valuable answer At this high altitude, the sky was an intense indigo blue, and the view was truly remarkable. Looking out the window, one could make out the gradual curve of the Earth below, and it was even more evident when viewed from inside the cabin over the span of a few windows.

That is, unfortunately, the real answer. Journalist - Working in news media for over a decade with outlets including 9News and the Discovery Channel, Nick is an airline marketing specialist with a Masters level education. Working closely with AirAsia, Virgin Australia, Turkish Airlines and others, Nick provides unique insight and analysis on a variety of aviation topics. This is a geometrical finding since the human eye cannot see a inch curve from 3 miles away.

Studies place the threshold altitude for seeing Earth's curvature at about 35, feet. Even at this height, it is difficult to discern the curve as the observer requires a wide-angle of view. Since the distance of the horizon depends on the length of a person, it is possible to see the Earth's curvature while standing on a raised position.

For a person standing at the summit of Mount Everest , which is about 29, feet, the horizon is approximately miles away. On a clear day, it is possible to see such a distance, but miles is not enough for the human eye to discern an expansive curvature like that of the Earth.

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