Ohio from the RenCen-is this possible?

[mtburb]

Almost a decade ago on the old forums, near the bottom of this thread, Mikeg mentioned that, weather permitting, it's possible to see the Renaissance Center from Perry's Monument in Put-In-Bay, Ohio, which actually is only 48 miles away as the crow flies or at least that's what Google Earth said. So that got me wondering, can we see any land in Ohio from the RenCen or perhaps any of the city's other downtown skyscrapers?

[ndavies]

This is a simple math problem. All you need to know is the height of the RenCen, The formula is here: http://m.wikihow.com/Calculate-the-D...to-the-Horizon. I'll let you do the math.

[Scottathew]

I have access to the roof of the seven story 800 Tower Drive in Troy, Michigan and I can easily see it from there on days that aren't even that clear. I think that is about 20 miles.

[Ray1936]

Much of the problem for distance sighting is that the area is distressingly flat. On the other hand, from my driveway in suburban Las Vegas, I can clearly see Mt. Charleston, 42 miles away [[zoom lens used).

[Gistok]

This is a simple math problem. All you need to know is the height of the RenCen, The formula is here: http://m.wikihow.com/Calculate-the-D...to-the-Horizon. I'll let you do the math.

Silly boy..... you forgot to factor in terrestrial refraction....
http://aty.sdsu.edu/~aty/explain/atm...r/horizon.html

Which means you can see more than ground level 11 miles to the horizon when the conditions are right. Here you can see from St. Clair Shores Champine Park [[12 Mile & Jefferson) the 20 or so miles to the distant windfarm on the Canadian shore due east... [[even trees are visible on the far side).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/on_the...-8Fk7ZE-b9QNEx

[mtburb]

Exactly-one-year up.

This was one of the photos I took back in July from a balcony from one of the higher floors of the Guardian Building with permission [[not the RenCen but close). Due to how this was resized please right click the photo and select "view image".

On the left is Trenton Channel, faintly visible to the right of that is the Monroe power plant. Dominating the foreground are some of Windsor's many apartment towers and the University of Windsor Energy Conversion Centre.

On the far right is the cement facility in LaSalle and beyond that the old McLouth Trenton complex and the Wyandotte power plant. In the horizon above those, however, is where I've placed highlighted boxes.

The red box is where I presumed, going by Google Earth, the Toledo skyline would be visible. The orange box to the right actually highlights what I've revealed were...Toledo buildings!

On the left side of the orange box are the oil tanks at BP's Toledo refinery, on the right of the box [[and just to the left of the left stack of the Wyandotte power plant) is One Seagate. Between McLouth and the left side of the orange box is a stack from First Energy's Bay Shore plant.

This 99% confirms that if it's possible to see Ohio from the Guardian Building, it's possible to see Ohio from the RenCen.

[iheartthed]

You can see downtown Detroit from northern Ohio, so why not?

[O3H]

Everyone forgot basic math in high school ?
You have to be 300 ft up to see 20 miles out to the horizon.

At 700 ft up in the RenCen you can see 30 miles
http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

Renaissance Building is only 727 ft high
[[This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts.)
So "wherever" you might be on RenCen, you only get 30 miles sight

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...on_diagram.jpg

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba.../#.WkMdaWinGUk

You would have to be 1000ft up to see 40 miles

[iheartthed]

Everyone forgot basic math in high school ?
You have to be 300 ft up to see 20 miles out to the horizon.

At 700 ft up in the RenCen you can see 30 miles
http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

Renaissance Building is only 727 ft high
[[This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts.)
So "wherever" you might be on RenCen, you only get 30 miles sight

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...on_diagram.jpg

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba.../#.WkMdaWinGUk

You would have to be 1000ft up to see 40 miles

Did you include the elevation of the city in your calculation?

[O3H]

Elevation is roughly equal. No mountains, no major valleys.
What numbers did you get iheartthed , let's see your worksheet ??
I'll go out on a limb, and say Ohio is actually lower than we are by a bit.
Elevation of the Lake Erie is 570, anything else is below the water, submerged.

[Meddle]

Everyone forgot basic math in high school ?
You have to be 300 ft up to see 20 miles out to the horizon.

At 700 ft up in the RenCen you can see 30 miles

And yet post 6 above clearly shows that from the 28th Floor [[less than 300'), you can see 28 miles [[and beyond) even on a hazy day.

[iheartthed]

Elevation is roughly equal. No mountains, no major valleys.
What numbers did you get iheartthed , let's see your worksheet ??
I'll go out on a limb, and say Ohio is actually lower than we are by a bit.
Elevation of the Lake Erie is 570, anything else is below the water, submerged.

I'm not the one being a condescending jackass about it.

[O3H]

Was high school math really that hard ?
-would love to see your math worksheet and answer iheartthed

Some might say Visibility involves :
An object should not merely be seen,
but should be identifiable against the background,
as a specific object [[not a blurry mess)

I'll concur one can "deduce" the existence of one tall building far away from another tall building with careful analysis of a highly detailed photograph.

Saying one can see Ohio is a bit of a stretch - literally and physically.

[SammyS]

Everyone forgot basic math in high school ?
You have to be 300 ft up to see 20 miles out to the horizon.

At 700 ft up in the RenCen you can see 30 miles
http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

Renaissance Building is only 727 ft high
[[This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts.)
So "wherever" you might be on RenCen, you only get 30 miles sight

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...on_diagram.jpg

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba.../#.WkMdaWinGUk

You would have to be 1000ft up to see 40 miles

But wouldn't an equally tall building at the destination allow for double the distance? i.e. a 700ft building should be seen...at least part of it.

[Lowell]

This was from my former 28th story apartment. Left to right there is Fermi, then Trenton Channel plant [not smoking] and the tops of the three stacks Monroe Edison. Those are five miles from the Ohio line. Would another 450 feet higher from the RenCen allow one to see something prominent in Ohio? You be the judge.

[EGrant]

But can you see windmills?

[mtburb]

But can you see windmills?

Windmills are visible in several of the other photos that I took from that Guardian Building balcony.

[Jimaz]

Here's a 20-minute video about a similar study in Utah:
Measuring Earth's Radius With A Telescope?

[O3H]

BIG difference between using human eyes and cameras, binoculars, telescopes, and other imaging devices to discern "visible distance"

If you don't know an area, cannot distinguish individual items on the horizon without "aid", you cannot see them, in fact you're guessing.
How far can you see on a guess, you'll have to decide for yourself.

[Richard]

So the earth is flat?

[Meddle]

I can remember during I-75 up north one night, maybe dusk or so. I started to see a flashing light. No question it was a State Trooper. This was mid 80s or so when they were still using the sealed beam beacons. For no special reason other than boredom, I checked my odometer wondering how far ahead it was. By the time I got to them, I had logged close to 10 miles.

I think we all know how straight and flat I-75 is in some places up there. This was not an issue of elevation and I wasn't seeing reflections of the beacon.

[Zacha341]

If you have a fast car Ohio is possible. It's the getting 'thru' Ohio that takes forever! ----

[Matyas Hromadka]

Using basic math:

you can see about 32 miles away from the top of RenCen. Ohio state line is considerably further, interestingly the border of Ohio on Lake Ontario IS closer to the RenCen than 32 miles [[it goes towards the NE from the land border). However you should be able to see the tops of Toledo's 5 tallest buildings. You could see the roof of the tallest building to a distance up to 58 miles. As the distance is +- 52.5 miles you can see the top five. This is all counted without atmospheric refraction which should allow you to see further. Thus I would say you can see Ohio in several fashions, however not dry land of Ohio from the top of the RenCen.

Everyone forgot basic math in high school ?
You have to be 300 ft up to see 20 miles out to the horizon.

At 700 ft up in the RenCen you can see 30 miles
http://www.ringbell.co.uk/info/hdist.htm

Renaissance Building is only 727 ft high
[[This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts.)
So "wherever" you might be on RenCen, you only get 30 miles sight

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...on_diagram.jpg

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba.../#.WkMdaWinGUk

You would have to be 1000ft up to see 40 miles

[yaktown]

About 10 years ago I was at the south end of Harsens Island and I could see the RenCen clearly. That's a distance of about 24 miles. One can also see the RenCen from Oakland University which is about 25 miles.