My friend's 5 minute comment about the horizon really got under my skin

I was at a cookout last Saturday, just chatting with my buddy Mike about nothing in particular. He knows I'm into flat earth stuff, he usually just rolls his eyes and changes the subject. But this time he pointed out that if the earth was flat, then the horizon should always rise to meet your eye level no matter how high you go. He said something like "you ever notice how on a plane the horizon dips below the center of the window when you climb?" And honestly, that hit me hard because I've seen that with my own eyes a hundred times. I mean, I've watched those high altitude balloon videos too, and the curve is always there. It's got me questioning why I never really looked at that one detail before, you know? Has anyone else had a friend casually drop something that made you stop and think?

3 comments

3 Comments

pat7811mo ago

Actually that's a good point he raised but I gotta push back a little on the whole "horizon always meets your eye level" thing. In my experience, that's more about how our eyes and brain work together to judge distance, not proof of curvature. Your mileage may vary, but I've read that on a clear day from a high altitude the horizon does seem to drop, but that could be atmospheric refraction playing tricks on you. Not saying Mike is wrong, just that there's more to unpack there if you dig into the optics side of it.

the_terry1mo ago

Oh man, I actually just watched a video about this exact thing last week. There's this guy who strapped a camera to a balloon and sent it up 100,000 feet, and the horizon definitely curved down in the footage. They broke down the math showing that if the earth was flat, the horizon would stay at eye level no matter how high you go, but it doesn't. Atmospheric refraction definitely messes with things at lower altitudes, but at that height there's not enough air to bend the light that much. Did the video you came across address the difference between low alt and high alt observations?

michaelgrant1mo ago

Got a buddy who flew his drone up about 1200 feet over a lake last summer. He was trying to get that perfect sunset shot but ended up with something weird. He called me over to his phone and showed me the footage. From that height you could see the far shore dipping down below the horizon line just slightly. He was freaking out because he swore the water looked like it was curving away from him. Not a huge drop or anything, but it was there in the video clear as day. We both just stood there staring at it for like five minutes trying to explain it away.