Can one standing on Spain’s southern coast view any of the Balearics with a naked eye? Perhaps binoculars?
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The distance from Sa Talaiassa, the highest peak on Ibiza, to the mainland is 92 km; the elevation of Sa Talaiassa is 475 m (says Wikipedia), which corresponds to a horizon distance of 78 km. (Sa Talaiassa is pretty close to the western end of Ibiza, too, so I doubt that there’s another peak that’s a more likely candidate.) So unless there’s some pretty severe inversion layers causing bending of light rays in the atmosphere, I would guess that it’s not visible from the shore.
This doesn’t preclude there being some peak on the mainland from which Sa Talaiassa is visible, of course, but from the shore it doesn’t seem likely.
That’s some neat information, MikeS. All I know is that no, you can’t see the Balearic Islands from the peninsula.
Puig Major, on Majorca, has an elevation of 1445 m and so a horizon distance of about 147 km. But it’s further away from the mainland; the closest point on the mainland appears to be about 175 km away.
(For the record, I’m using the Google Maps Measurement Tool to get these distances.)
I think it should be possible from the Montgó Massif (753m) to Ibiza, and here are some pictures that suggest it is:
It should also be possible to see Puig Major from Turó de l’Home in the Montseny massif (combined horizon radius 303 km, straight-line distance 222 km), assuming there are no other large peaks in the way.
Only from Sarah Palin’s house.
Yes, you can see Mallorca from Turó de l’Home. Link, with computer-generated panorama, and photograph.
From the southern coast? No. The Balearics are located to the East of Spain. From the southern coast you could see Africa which is bigger and better.
Depends on the peninsula, I guess. From the Iberian peninsula you definitely can. I remember reading an article about geodetic works carried out in the late 19th century between the mainland and Balearics and between southern Spain and northern Algeria where the distance is twice as much.
I get conflicting altitude data on Spanish geodetic points between Instituto Geográfico Nacional and Google Earth. I have no idea what can explain such large differences except using different geoidal models.
But even using the lowest reported data (usually Google Earth) there are several geodetic points on the mainland which are visible from Point Talaiassa, Ibiza. There are some pretty impressive mountains in Alicante.
#79844 Talaiassa (pdf) (San José, Baleares), (38.91089, 1.27357), height: 470 ~ 486 m, distance to the horizon: 78 Km
#82303 Llorensa (pdf) (Benitachel, Alicante), (38.72048, 0.16011), 436 ~ 420 m, distance to the horizon: 73 km, distance to Talaisa 99 Km, visible? YES
#84839 Bernia (pdf) (Jalón, Alicante), (38.66345, -0.05502), 1050 ~ 1176.2 m, distance to the horizon 119 Km, distance to Talaiassa 119 Km, Visible: YES, Talaiassa would be visible even at sea level…
#084878 Ifach (pdf) (Calpe, Alicante), (38.634844, 0.075529), 327 ~ 240 m, distance to horizon 55 Km, distance to Talaissa 109 Km, Visible from Talaiassa: YES.
#82201 Morro Blau (Guadalest, Alicante), (38.68678, -0.15347), 1175.4 ~ 1125 m, distance to horizon 125 Km, distance to Talaiassa 126 Km, visible; YES (even if Talaiassa were at sea level).
#82298 - Montgó, (Denia, Alicante) , (38.80323, 0.12936), 720 ~ 800 m, distance to horizon 96 Km, distance to Talaissa 100 Km, visible: YES, very well.
There are more.
As I said, you can “see” (for certain values of “see”) mountains in Algeria from Mulhacén.
The mountains in Alicante and Talaiassa are mutually and reversibly visible to each other from each other by direct line of sight. And vice versa. Mutually. (Assuming good weather, good eyesight and a willingness to observe.)
The Malaysian peninsula is another story though. I don’t know if you could see the Balearics from there.
How is this relevant?
^ Welcome to 2012. His phone automatically does that.
