Comments on: How far away is the horizon?

By: Mickey

Mickey — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:34:54 +0000

I was standing on the shoreline in Huntington Beach, Ca and looking out over the ocean at Catalina Island at least 20 miles away. I think I saw pretty close to the bottom of the island. How’s that possible if I should not be able to see the horizon past 5 or 6 miles?

By: sandy

sandy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:52:34 +0000

I thought I was asking a simple question! Wow, I didn’t realize it was so complicated to figure out.No wonder everyone I asked didn’t have a clue.Thanks for the info. Although it was way more than I needed. And way more than I could understand.

By: sandy

sandy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:42:03 +0000

I thought I was asking a simple question! Wow, I didn’t know it was that complicated. No wonder everyone I asked couldn’t come up with the answer.Thanks for all the info.Although it was way more than I needed or could understand.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:33:19 +0000

I have always enjoyed this concept, even though I do not have a scientific mind whatsoever, I do appreciate the formula above…very interesting. One example of this topic, outside of watching the horizon line from inside an airplane, was standing on top of Pikes Peak and seeing downtown Denver to the north and Raton Pass to the south, well over a 200 mile spread. Thanks again for the info…

By: peter

peter — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:34:04 +0000

Forget the maths, go to the beach and have a look. I can stand on the beach at Fremantle in Western Australia and clearly see Rottnest Island that I know is 12 miles away. I can see the beaches and the boats in the bay with my binoculars. When ships sail past Rottnest, heading towards India, I can see them sailing away for over 1/2 hour. I suggest the horizon, while standing at sea level and from eye height(approx 5 ft) in more like 25 miles, not 3 miles like all the scientist appear to have calculated.

By: Laurie Dhue

Laurie Dhue — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:08:42 +0000

So if I am in a warship and my radar dish is 65 feet above the water, then my detection range is less than ten miles if the target is a submarine mast, Hmm Interesting.

By: How far away is the horizon? | Halil YeTGiN's BloG

How far away is the horizon? | Halil YeTGiN's BloG — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:49:37 +0000

[...] If you’re not exactly the same height as me you can figure out how far away the horizon is using a series of calculations. [...]