Driving across Montana with my daughter we were trying to guess how far we could see. We took a guess at the mountains ahead and we were pretty close at 15 miles away (within 1 mile).
I thought the horizon on the ocean was 11 miles away - so thanks for the correction that it is only 3 miles away. I’ll have to tell her that. She thought it would have been much farther than 11 miles (I told her that I wasn’t sure!), so I suppose she will be sorely disappointed that it is only 3!
Is the horizon at eye level?
Drive out to the beach and look out at the horizon.
Is the horizon at eye level?
How is that possible on a sphere?
Do you EVER look DOWN to the horizon or does the horizon ALWAYS rise to eye level no matter the height?
Line of sight of the "observer", parallel to the ground and perpendicular at 90, not downward.
Do you see what is wrong with that image?
The distance to the visible horizon depends upon the height of eye. From the bridge of most ships that I sailed on it was considered to be roughly six miles.