Bobby Shafto | One Minute of Arc Can't Hide the Whole Bunch, Girl @bobshafto | Uploaded February 2022 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Return to the bluffs of Beacons Beach in Leucadia, CA. Looking toward San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, 41km distant.
Similar observation as before, except only descended to a height where the spires on the containment vessels were just visible.
Those spires are about 80 meters above sea level. At a distance of 41 km, that's 0.11 degrees (about 6.6 arcminutes).
An inferior mirage is detectable, measuring about 0.013 to 0.018 degrees in the vertical field of view (about 1 minute of arc).
Can a mirage of 1 arcminute obscure things with 6 to 7 times its angular height? We're not talking about linear height. Smaller, closer obstructions can obscure more distance object due to perspective. But that's smaller/larger in linear terms; not angular. When speaking in terms of angles, perspective is accounted for.
1 arcminute of mirage can't explain this visual phenomenon.
More about this observation to come.
Return to the bluffs of Beacons Beach in Leucadia, CA. Looking toward San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, 41km distant.
Similar observation as before, except only descended to a height where the spires on the containment vessels were just visible.
Those spires are about 80 meters above sea level. At a distance of 41 km, that's 0.11 degrees (about 6.6 arcminutes).
An inferior mirage is detectable, measuring about 0.013 to 0.018 degrees in the vertical field of view (about 1 minute of arc).
Can a mirage of 1 arcminute obscure things with 6 to 7 times its angular height? We're not talking about linear height. Smaller, closer obstructions can obscure more distance object due to perspective. But that's smaller/larger in linear terms; not angular. When speaking in terms of angles, perspective is accounted for.
1 arcminute of mirage can't explain this visual phenomenon.
More about this observation to come.
