Is it possible to see the curvature of the Earth, from the Earth? In my travels, I’ve come across “lore” that suggests that in certain areas, you can see the actual curvature of the Earth.
The first place this was suggested to me was in the Black Rock Desert, in Nevada. This myth was explained here:
“The longest stretch of playa [nickname for the surface of the Black Rock Desert] is 27 miles along the west arm and south of the intersecting arms the widest spot is 12 miles. The playa has a “bulge” in the middle that is widely reported to be the visible curvature of the earth; this is actually the result of water pressure and the expanding clays that make up the playa fill. (The earth’s curvature is not visible from altitudes lower than about 20 miles.)”
The last sentence seemed to answer my question. However, I then came across this website regarding Wendover, Nevada:
It advertises “Curvature of the Earth” as a “Historic Sites, Sites of Interest, National or State Parks.”
So once again, I was confused. So, I “Googled” my question, and found a lot of information on scientific proof that the Earth is round, but no actual answer to my question.
So, I pose the question to you; is it possible to see the Earth’s curvature from the Earth? Is the “curvature” one sees at various locations on Earth optical illusions, or what?
I appreciate any answers you can provide me. Thank you for your time.
I was once on the flight deck of a C-141, over the No. Pacific, and a member of the flight crew pointed out, what I’ve always thought to be, the curvature of the Earth. I’ve been on many other, high altitude, long distance flights, but that’s the only time I every remember noticing it, but that could be because it was called to my attention. It could alse be because I had a panoramic view.
Other sites are a little more cautious, saying that “you seem to be able to see the curvature of the Earth”.
There is also this, related but a bit different:
When I was growing up my parents had a summer home at the beach, a condo at the top floor of a high-rise situated at the head of the beach. From the base of the building to the water’s edge at high tide, it was less than 100 feet. This allowed for nearly 180 degree views of the ocean. I spent a great deal of time on the balcony overlooking the beach. While it may have been an optical illusion, I remember being able to clearly see the curve of the Earth nearly every clear day in the summer.
I question this. Some years ago I was flying a small plane in northern BC at an altituce of about 7000’ on an extremely clear day. Scattered cumulus clouds filled the sky, with bases at perhaps 15000’. The limit of visibility to the east (where it’s flat) was the cumulus clouds curving down to the horizon - at the horizon, you were looking into the bottom of a cloud.
I think that for those knowing the earth is spherical that this is the case to some extent. For example if I am sitting in a rowboat I can see all of a 6 ft. tall person at a distance of about 6 miles. Anything beyond that and the lower part of the person is below the horizon. So if I have binoculars and someone rows me further away the person disappears below the horizon little by little.
I know that this is an inference and not a direct impression of curvature. However, on an elevation looking out over the ocean I get the direct impression (illusion?) of roundness.
I’ve seen the curvature of the Earth numerous times- admittedly all from the cabin windows of a Boeing 747-400, but the first time I flew to England, I recall looking out the window somewhere over the Pacific ocean and just thinking “Wow”.
I still think one of the most beautiful sights in the world is the sun rising over the horizon (and therefore the wing of a 747) as you cruise 30,000 ft above North America- the transition from darkness to light, the feeling of being on the very edge of the world in so many senses…
Sorry, getting a bit Lyric-Waxical there… I’ll go and finish my Black Russian and be quiet now.
By “seeing the curvature of the Earth”, you mean “perceiving the dip of the horizon”, as explained in detail in this web site. As with anything involving perception, the question “can you see it?” is subjective.
To a flatlander pasted to the surface of the Earth, the sky fills exactly 180 degrees. The flatlander cannot tell whether the Earth is flat or round.
To a person standing in a ship, on a perfectly smooth sea, with no refraction, and eyes 1.5 meters above the surface of the water, the sky fills 180.078 degrees from horizon to horizon (see the above link).
Is the difference between 180.078 and 180 perceptible? Ordinarily, no. But under special circumstances–for example, a tall ship sailing away and disappearing mast-first under the horizon–it can be.
From an airplane flying at 10,000 meters, if I’m doing the math correctly, the sky fills 186.4 degrees, and the Earth only 173.8. Is that perceptible? Yeah, kind of, sort of. On the other hand, people see what they want to see, and it’s easy to say, “I can see the curvature of the Earth” just because you’re way up high. It would be hard to objectively test this–you’d have to set up a simulator where an Earth-from-a-height still filled 180 degrees of your field of vision.
From the Moon, the Earth fills only about two degrees, and everything else (sky and Moon-surface) fills 358 degrees. That’s pretty noticeable.
I’ve lived on the 3rd coast, i.e. Chicago, for a nawful long time. I’ve been up and down both sides of the lake many times and I’ve sat at the beach where you can get about a 180 degree view of the water that goes as far as you can see. I’m sure it’s the same as looking out into the Atlantic or Pacific. You can convince yourself that the horizon curves, but I don’t think it really does. It looks really, really flat to me. Yeah, I can see smoke coming from smoke stacks that I can’t see on particularly clear days, and I can infer that the earth is round, but I can’t actually see the curvature. And that’s really the OP’s Q, isn’t it? My answer: nope.
