When you are sitting on your balcony looking out at the sea to the horizon, how far away is the line where the sea meets the sky? It always looks the same distance away, so how do you work it out?
(can you tell i’ve just come back from a holiday by the sea? )
Doesn’t refraction have to be taken into account? A la those stories of sailors in the arctic seeing ships which were actually several hundred miles away?
I really noticed this on a recent trip to Nebraska. I’m about two meters tall so my horizon is a bit over 5km. or about 3.5 miles. Not very far compared to where I live. On a good day, I can see mountains as far away as 150 miles. I think this adds to why Nebraska seems so flat. You’re expecting to see distant objects, but they have dropped away below the horizon.