# Penthouse with an ocean view. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penthouse-with-an-ocean-view/669021 "2013-09-17T02:46:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penthouse-with-an-ocean-view/669021/21 "2013-09-17T18:01:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The shortest distance from the Atlantic (not counting the Gulf of Mexico) to the Pacific in the continental United States is from Jacksonville, Florida to San Diego, California. It’s about 2350 miles. The midpoint is in the vicinity of Brownwood, Texas. > > Some quick calculations gives me the figure that you’ll need to be 155 miles above ground level to see both oceans from that distance (ignoring the fact that refraction and atmospheric haze would make this impossible). Spent most of the summers of my youth on Lake Brownwood. Nice enough place but I doubt that the OP would like to live there, bet they would like the construction jobs. **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penthouse-with-an-ocean-view/669021/22 "2013-09-17T20:03:46Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > The penthouse wouldn’t need to be that high, it only needs to be very, very, very wide. Great. **Shiftless**! Not only is this the funniest reply, but also, of course, you are quite correct. You win. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penthouse-with-an-ocean-view/669021/23 "2013-09-17T21:07:34Z")
> [@the\_O](#): > > I used to think Zha Zha Gabor was a little stuck up… Hey! If I’m going to be an Evil **Over** lord, I am not going to blow off the OVER part of Overlord. And if I’m living in a dual oceanview penthouse, well, wouldn’t that be the definition of “over”? :: making a note to send some people to have a little _chat_ with the O :: ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penthouse-with-an-ocean-view/669021/24 "2013-09-17T21:18:30Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > Spent most of the summers of my youth on Lake Brownwood. Nice enough place but I doubt that the OP would like to live there, bet they would like the construction jobs. > > **Capt** Given the required height for this structure, it seems to me unlikely that it would be vertical. Most likely, it would have three base pads hundreds of miles from each other. You would probably need binoculars to see any part of it from Brownsville. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penthouse-with-an-ocean-view/669021/25 "2013-09-17T21:23:33Z")
It’s not really a response to the OP’s question, but the houses [on this street](https://maps.google.co.za/?ll=-34.825377,20.001125&spn=0.007099,0.033023&t=h&layer=c&cbll=-34.825371,20.001122&panoid=APJ_w9ZbM3zsg8gXlHM6CA&cbp=11,187.54,,0,6.43&z=16) have views of both the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. Of course, in that case the two oceans are divided only by [an imaginary line](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Cape_Agulhas-001.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penthouse-with-an-ocean-view/669021/26 "2013-09-17T21:41:51Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > It may be that on the way up the Atlantic is lost in the haze, but when you get up to 155 km, the sum of the haze is reduced because you are looking pretty much looking straight down through thin layers rather than horizontally through a long distance of the worst of the worst layers. > > Space shuttle was orbiting at anywhere from 180km to 650 km. Lest there be any continuing confusion here, **Little Nemo** figured that the house would need to be 155 miles high. That’s 250 km. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penthouse-with-an-ocean-view/669021.md?page=1)