The fundamental deficiency in this approach is the assumption that earth has no atmosphere. Can the curvature of the earth only be seen from outer space. You can hire a 30 minute mig29 flight and see the curvature. The earth s radius is the distance from earth s center to its surface, about 6,371 kilometers 3,959 mi. Generate kml linestring coordinates with curvature of the. The true measure of the earth s curvature is the angle. C earthcurvex,y,xo,yo specifies a reference location xo,yo for the calculation. Since the earth rotates, the surface of the earth is an accelerating reference frame we call this a noninertial frame. The atmospheric condition is limiting our visibility. This app calculates how much a distant object is obscured by the earth s curvature, and makes the following assumptions. Whenever you have an object in a noninertial frame, you have to add in. Depends on what you mean by see the curvature of the earth, what people usually mean by this is actually a misnomer, they are.
Outer space doesnt begin until you reach 100 kilometers 62 miles above earth s surface, but the curvature of the earth is clearly visible from the nearspace altitudes reached by aether one, the university of leicester student project. Student project captures images of the earth s curvature. Several models with greater accuracy have been developed so that coordinate systems can serve the. I have no argument with the maths, i just think that the equation is solving for a value that is irrelevant to the real situation.
You should be able to detect it from an aeroplane at a cruising height of around 10,600 metres 35,000 feet, but you need a fairly wide field of. Earth curvature calculation spreadsheet no atmosphere. I added the centimeter, meter, and kilometer results to the earth curve calculator. If youre at point p on the surface of the earth, then move tangent to the surface a distance of one mile, in order to form a right triangle. How many feet per mile does the earth curve down from.
Apr 19, 2015 in every mile after the first, the curvature downwards from the point t increases as the square of the distance multiplied by 8 inches. While radius normally is a characteristic of perfect spheres, the earth deviates from spherical by only a third of a percent, sufficiently close to treat it as a sphere in many contexts and justifying the term the. So this line is at the height of the eye of the observer. The line of sight from an aircraft at 37,000 feet 235 miles. Can i see curvature of the earth on a picture earth science. A ruleofthumb for line of sight problems such as this, where the distance is small in comparison to the size of the earth is. This effect makes actual level rod readings too large by.
The true measure of the earths curvature is the angle. Earths curvature and battleship gunnery math encounters. There are reasons other than earth s curvature that can. I dont know the math on how far above the observer a visible layer must be before the curvature is evident but every scientist i have ever heard on the topic says it is not possible to see the curvature from the planets surface. Using the circumference we find that 1 kilometer has the angle 360 40 030 km 0. Visibility is about a meter 3 feet on the typical beach, ten meters 33 feet in the clear waters such as the caribbean. Here, i used the angle between observer h1 and the horizon because there is no way to see any more curvature from the observers point of view. By default radio mobile uses the value 1,333316759 for the coverage calculations. Studies using different earth curvatures can be done outside radio mobile using rmpath. Mathworks is the leading developer of mathematical computing software for. How high do you have to go to see the curvature of the earth. Use this tool to find where the visible horizon is from a point on earth using a map to show the area covered. Various visualization software tools allow the modelling of atmospheric influences. B wants to launch a satellite into space to find out, once and for all, whether the earth is flat or round.
Radio mobile will not allow the change of this setting. Jan 06, 2017 in conditions close to a vacuum with ambient temperatures around 56oc the students payload filmed the cloud tops and the curvature of the earth. I have tried all kinds of logic and facts to disprove his belief. Eyelevel shows a line at infinity that is the distance height obove the flat earth plane at the observer. The sphere is an approximation of the figure of the earth that is satisfactory for many purposes. Depends on what you mean by see the curvature of the earth, what people usually mean by this is actually a misnomer, they are actually seeing their horizon curve around them and not the curvature of the earth. P eople hope an d often expect to see it and so they do, whether they actually do or not.
Cameras can have a different field of view, and thus earths curvature can look different than how our eyes perceive it. Back in the day when we could open a window shade, this was my favorite part of watching the fading night sky for that first intimation of color and with it the slight line of curvature. In order to be able to use the formulas for the calculation of the obscuration of objects by the curvature of the earth also with consideration of refraction, there is a trick. Measuring the curvature of the horizon with a level metabunk. In screen profiles the computer can include in its calculations curvature of the earth s surface along the profile.
Earth curvature calculator calculate the curve you. Outer space doesnt begin until you reach 100 kilometers 62 miles above earth s surface, but the curvature of the earth is clearly visible from the nearspace altitudes reached by aether one, the. Cameras can have a different field of view, and thus earth s curvature can look different than how our eyes perceive it. This can be seen on very long profiles through areas of low relief, where the ticks on both sides of the profile will be visibly at different levels e. It is the bias of our culture that believes we live on earth, not within earth. The first issue the curvature has not been observed. Visually detect the earth os curvature i first examined the hor izon from commercial jet air craft. The video below is a look into the difference between the horizon, line of site, and figuring earths curvature. Straight, level, and the curvature of the earth math encounters blog. I keep being presented with earth curvature experiment videos recently, by flatconcave earth advocates. Plus, it makes great evidence to show the flat earther next door how our planet is. Earth curvature calculator calculate the curve you should see.
I have observed this subtle almost curvature of the earth at the moments when dawn has not occurred but is almost ready to do so. Lets say the line has to appear at an altitude of 260,000 above the earth. Note that the computations for the visibility cloak and the list of visible peaks include the earths curvature, and the. Correcting the effects of the earths curvature and atmospheric refraction. Flatearthers like to demonstrate that a previously invisible ship at a distance can be made visible by zooming in. For this example, lets assume that the earth has a spherical shape with a radius of 3,963 miles. If youre at point p on the surface of the earth, then move tangent to the surface a distance of one mile, in. Thats because it is blocked by the curvature of the earth. For example, a 100foottall ship that is 15 miles away is not visible.
Earth s curvature i am interested in knowing the degree of curvature of the earth s surface. We wish to find the height h which is the drop in curvature over the distance d using the circumference we find that 1 kilometer has the angle 360 40 030 km 0. The source code and calculation method are available on. Weather balloons can rise as high as 40 kilometers 24 miles before they burst.
Sep 27, 2017 to get started, i drew a circle with a radius of 20,903,520 feet to represent earth. If you want to see this, call nasa and ask if you could step aboard the next space shuttle to the iss. The simplest model for the shape of the entire earth is a sphere. Any calculation about the visibility of a distant object needs to account for the height of the observer and atmospheric refraction. The earth s terminator separates the day side from the night side. The displayed z coordinate accounts for the elevation of the terrain and the curvature of the body. Autocad is a very popular computeraided design software. The earths radius r is 6371 km or 3959 miles, based on numbers from wikipedia, which gives a circumference cof c 2. At many locations, this line is obscured by land, trees, buildings, mountains, etc. How high do i have to go to see the curve of earth. Here is how to calculate for the earths curvature without using a curvature calculator.
Uses a cosine function, works for all distances in both kilometers and miles. Robert johnston last updated 3 november 2008 1 objective and disclaimer one aspect of the relativistic spacetime curvature due to the presence of mass is the breakdown of euclidean atspace geometry. Calculations on spacetime curvature within the earth and sun wm. Nevertheless prior to calculating the actual visibility, two important external effects. The legendary autocad diagram involving the pythagorean. Its hard to see the curvature of the earth from an altitude of 7 miles or 37,000 ft typical cruising altitude of a jetliner but easy to see from 250 miles typical altitude of the iss. Straight, level, and the curvature of the earth math. Here is the data i came up with while figuring out at what height is the curvature of the earth visible. If a person wants to start questioning the particulars like our distance from the sun or speed of rotation then all bets are off. The calculation of the length of the effectively visible curved horizon line. Even nasa clearly admits that 60,000ft is way too low to observe curvature. Here are seven other ways to prove our planet is spherical. I would like to be sure i have considered all the factors. The true horizon is actually a theoretical line, which can only be observed when it lies on the sea surface.
A third way to see that the earth is a sphere is to look at how objects in the distance disappear as you get farther away. Assuming clear weather, no waves and using using whatever visual technology available binoculars etc. Nov 16, 2010 the solution shows how much the curvature of the earth deviates from the horizontal x in the diagram away from that point, but does not appear to account for the change in angle of observation. With that information, we can simulate how earth s curvature would appear to a human eye as shown in the illustration. Like night and day now look at the terminator the line separating the sunlit side of the earth from the nighttime areas. Between any two beginning and end points there would be a straight line when looking from above, but from the side it would match the curvature of the earth. Could you see the curvature of the earth in this airport. This app calculates how much a distant object is obscured by the earths curvature, and makes the following assumptions. Since the average depth of the oceans is 4000 meters,000 feet, even the most sensitive camera could not see the sea floor except along. Earth curvature refraction for dummies physics stack. I have read the threads trying to explain if pilots make adjustments for curvature.
I am attempting to find a method which would allow me to conceptualize and calculate the making of such a depiction on paper. This photograph from the international space station shows high clouds tinted warm pastel colors by the setting rising. You can clearly see the curve distortion of the window itself. Earths surface disk visible from fl350 is about 1446 nautical miles. At what altitude do you see the curvature of the earth. Can the curvature of the earth only be seen from outer. It was regarding that you shouldnt be able to see the statue of liberty from a distance of 60 miles if the earth had curvature or something like.
Is it possible to see the curvature of the earth from earth. Dec 30, 2016 this video poses a very simple question at what height is the earth s curvature visible. If youre at 400km you can see the curvature of the earth. Calculations on spacetime curvature within the earth and sun. The next time the weather channel says there is infinite visibility, then yes, you would be able to see europe from boston. Given the rangefinder is approximately 40 feet above the water, 9. The size and shape it refers to depend on context, including the precision needed for the model. Student project captures images of the earths curvature. For such a very simple question we dont get a very simple answer. Tangent shows the tangent line to the globe horizon. A rule of thumb for line of sight problems such as this, where the distance is small in comparison to the size of the earth is.
Likewise when the sun goes down beyond the marine horizon and your town is in twilight, a high flying aircraft overhead will be illuminated by the sun that you cant see because the curvature of the earth is in the way. To the east right side the seep water is a pure blue no subsurface features are visible. Dec 20, 2017 according to my website, the curvature of the earth is 179. The rule, however, requires to be modified after the first thousand miles. Change earth curvature for some studies it is required to change the earth curvature k. Accurately calculate the curvature on the ball earth. This matlab function computes the mutual visibility between pairs of points. Wider field of view corresponds to a focal length less than 43mm results in more curvature. Use inf as the effective radius for flat earth visibility calculations. Further to drgcs excellent answer, a subjective assessment of visibility of the earth s curvature can be gleaned from pilots experioence over many decades.
The horizon or skyline is the apparent line that separates earth from sky, the line that divides all visible directions into two categories. Jul 23, 2015 i added the formula used to the earth curve calculator 4. The autocad diagram does not account for both factors, and therefore cannot be used to determine the visibility of a distant object. Students film breathtaking curvature of earth using high. However after doing several studies myself, with an assistant armed with a high powered lasers over a vast body of still water my ass.
We wish to find the height h which is the drop in curvature over the distance d. Analyzing how the earths curvature affects building width. Debunking this gets into math which i stink at, regarding refraction. I started by drawing a pentagon 910 feet on each side, and then placing it on the circle representing earth. The curved shape of the earth means that the level surface through the telescope will depart from the horizontal plane through the telescope as the line of sight proceeds to the horizon.
The earth s radius r is 6371 km or 3959 miles, based on numbers from wikipedia, which gives a circumference cof c 2. At what height is the curvature of the earth visible. In general, how far can you see on the ocean before the. On a clear day, the tips of the masts or funnels will be visible when most of the ship is hidden by the curvature of the earth.
With a section of earth established, i could proceed to draft the hypothetical building. Lineofsight visibility between two points in terrain matlab los2. Note that you can see the curvature of the earth below 400km as well. Figure of the earth is a term of art in geodesy that refers to the size and shape used to model earth. He is not the sharpest knife in the drawer so trying to explain gravity, atmosphere moving with earth, etc is difficult. This shadow tells you that the earth is a sphere just like the moon. How many feet per mile does the earth curve down from where. The light gradually fades along the curvature of the earth, until it is pitch black on the night side.