[hoopera]

Hello everyone, just found the site, and am incredibly curious!

I'd like to share one of my experiences with you, and would ask of you to explain the phenomenon.

A few years back, me and my family took a trip to Colorado. It was an absolutely wonderful trip, many beautiful sights to see there. Highly recommend you go there if you get the chance!

One thing that really stood out to me was when we climbed up (or more, drove up) Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs. It's elevation comes up to about 14,115 feet, or 4,302 meters. Scary stuff driving up the mountain, but my Dad had a 4 wheel drive truck so I felt a lot safer. Even though a little slip off the road could end in a pretty spectacular death. Either way, we made it all the way up to the top of the mountain.

The view was absolutely breathtaking. Seeing just how high up something like that is is just amazing. I even crept over to the edge to see down (DO NOT RECOMMEND).

One thing that caught my eye was this: Looking out over the horizon, I could see the Earth curve. What this meant to me was that I could see far enough out, and that I was high enough, to see the earth curving.

However, since I've found this site and read up on some of the forums, I'd like to hear anyone's thoughts on this!

Thank you for your time

[Pete Svarrior]

Hi hoopera, thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll enjoy our community.

Ah, Colorado. I haven't done much mountain climbing, but I do agree it's a beautiful state.

Anyway, on to your question. It's an interesting one. Many people come here convinced that they've witnessed the Earth's curvature from relatively low heights and bring it up as an argument against the Flat Earth Theory. Curiously, even if we assume that everything about modern science and the Round Earth Theory is correct, you simply should not be able to visually discern any curvature from the height of ~14,000ft.

This paper by David Lynch investigates the ease with which the curvature of the Earth could be perceived, using Mauna Kea (13,796ft) as one of his examples. His conclusion is that the altitude needed to perceive the Earth's curvature if the Earth were round should be "somewhat less than 35,000 ft, but not as low as 14,000 ft".

Generally, it's fair to say that there is a lot of confirmation bias surrounding the subject. Part of the reason you're convinced you saw the Earth's curvature is because you thought you should be able to see it. However, if you really did see it, it would mean that the Round Earth is much smaller than Round Earthers would have you believe.

Where curvature can be seen (i.e. at much higher altitudes), the most likely explanation is that you're simply seeing the circular area of the Earth illuminated by the Sun.