
Beyond Horizons: 443km world record of distant landscape photography - fanf2
https://beyondhorizons.eu/2016/08/03/pic-de-finestrelles-pic-gaspard-ecrins-443-km/
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sztanko
Here is a photo of Denver taken from California (1400 miles away):
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Denver/comments/3xuc2t/denver_from_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Denver/comments/3xuc2t/denver_from_1400_miles_worldview3_satellite_was/)

[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/a-new...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/12/a-new-
kind-of-landscape-photography/421287/?single_page=true)

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fanf2
I don't think the satellite was standing on the ground at the time it took the
photo, though :-)

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TallGuyShort
I'm unable to find it, but I'm pretty certain this was already submitted
shortly after the original post in 2016 - may be some other interesting HN
discussion already if anyone can find it.

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jjp
Perhaps this -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14861075](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14861075)

~~~
TallGuyShort
That rings a bell - thanks for digging it up!

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throwaway2016a
The explanations as to why this does not prove the Earth is flat is great. I
am not a flat Earther (I very much believe it to be roughly spherical) but I
didn't know something like this could be explained by "atmospheric refraction"

It gives me even more respect for astronomers and physicists that they are
able to account for factors like this when doing their calculations.

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edgarvaldes
Love the comments in the original article, talking about a Flat Earth.

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dx034
But the answers with calculations are interesting. Is there a simulator online
to calculate the distance you should be able to see from a given point (and
altitude), with and without refraction?

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iMart1n_FR
There is:
[http://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=NRXM7WAC](http://www.heywhatsthat.com/?view=NRXM7WAC)

You can toggle flat/curved Earth as well as the refraction and even the height
of the photographer above the ground level :)

~~~
jstanley
I can't work out how to do any of the things you said you can do. Is there
more interface to this that I'm not seeing?

EDIT: Never mind, it's the "Parameters" text. This is cool :)

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avar
Perhaps most amazing is that the camera used is in the $200-300 price range
and the lens was just the integrated lens using a zoom.

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Bedon292
If this is interesting, you might also like Mt Fuji from 2500km.
[http://blog.digitalglobe.com/industry/from-a-bird-from-a-
pla...](http://blog.digitalglobe.com/industry/from-a-bird-from-a-plane-from-a-
satellite/)

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teekert
The comments are gold. I always thought flat earthers were thought up by the
government to discredit believers in real conspiracies (like the 9-11 inside
job). Seems like flat earthers are either real or the government is doubling
down on sock puppets feeling that this discrediting is very necessary.

~~~
sandworm101
Oh they are very real. I've met a few. I had expected that they would be
elderly nutters like the Apollo deniers. But was I got was self-centred young
people. They place their own perceptions above all others, not accepting the
word of any "scientist" or "doctor". It really is amazing to witness an
intelligent and thoughtful person build their own fantasy world of
conspiracies and shadow enemies. It's like going to a book reading by Tolkien
only to realize he is carrying a real sword and expects orcs to pop out of the
audience.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-
lead/wp/2017/07/28...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-
lead/wp/2017/07/28/kyrie-irvings-flat-earth-beliefs-now-the-bane-of-middle-
school-teachers/)

~~~
pwython
> It really is amazing to witness an intelligent and thoughtful person build
> their own fantasy...

When it comes to the vocal conspiracy theorists you see online, I think they
really get a kick out of believing that they're just smarter than everyone
else. "Everyone else" being the 99% of the population who they label as
"sheep" because they agree with science or facts that are "too obvious."

The other spectrum of conspiracy theorists however, may just really want to
believe in their fantasy world.

~~~
sandworm101
It goes two ways. Some of them call us sheep for following the obvious and
themselves follow the ridiculously complex. Those are the traditional
conspiracy theorists. Others deny the complex and instead believe only simple
explanations based on their own perceptions. That's where I draw the line
between oldschool theorists and modern theorists. The oldschool theorist
believes in a complex government conspiracy hiding behind a veil of secrecy
(the black helicopter crowd of the 90s). The modern theorist dismisses a
complex theory based such as climate change in favour of their own perceptions
("I'm cold"). The former believes the world to be run be evil geniuses. The
later by idiots.

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aw3c2
*2016 please, I thought this would be a new one.

~~~
mannykannot
I have a vague recollection of something like this in central Asia, within the
last year or so, but I can't find a reference to it (maybe from a peak in the
Pamirs to a mountain of the Karakorum?)

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bdamm
I liked their view ray diagram, because they included adjustments for the
curvature of the earth.

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hawski
So now someone could try to setup an optical link between those points. I
wonder would it be a bit easier then a straight photograph?

~~~
ceejayoz
An optical link between two distant peaks that'll be almost always unavailable
due to atmospheric conditions and weather? For what purpose?

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LanceH
At the very least it would identify some category of atmospheric conditions
when the link is up.

And lasers. If I ever figure out how to squeeze lasers into a project, it's a
done deal.

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vfclists
Let the Flat Earth commenters begin. They are already some on the blog itself,
but I think the HN commenter has a higher class of eruditon, scientific
exposition and rigor.

I tend to go with Flat Earthers because I find the counter-arguments against
their claims rather inadequate, but that could be because I lack the
scientific understanding to comprehend them.

~~~
Zaak
The difference between flat earthers and round earthers is that round earthers
can correctly predict the outcome of observations using their mathematical
models, and flat earthers cannot.

Take the recent total eclipse as an example. It was predicted years
(centuries) in advance using round earth mathematics. Is there even a single
flat earther who was able to predict the eclipse using their model? If there
is, I haven't heard.

~~~
mikestew
_The difference between flat earthers and round earthers is that round
earthers can correctly predict the outcome of observations using their
mathematical models, and flat earthers cannot._

That is probably the most profound rebuttal to flat-earthers I've heard.
Granted, it's a grand extrapolation of "where do you think ships go when they
sail over the horizon?", but it's an excellent summary.

~~~
distances
I'm more wondering about when would one need any rebuttal to start with. Most
online comments are probably trolls, and if not, it's not worth your time
anyway. Is it common to have friends or relatives with such a feeble grasp of
reality?

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maxxxxx
I know somebody who believes in chemtrails, flat earth and a lot of other
stuff. There is really no way to argue with her because at the bottom of
everything there is a big, powerful conspiracy.

I told her once that Alex Jones certainly has enough money to rent a jet to
fly into a chemtrail and take some samples or take a ship and go straight and
see what happens. But of course there tons of government conspiracies to
prevent these things. In the end these people don't really want to know. They
just have a deep discomfort with the current state of things.

~~~
Zaak
> In the end these people don't really want to know. They just have a deep
> discomfort with the current state of things.

This is a very succinct description of the mindset of the flat earthers I have
talked with.

