Coastlines are often best, as a large expanse of water tends to provide the least undulating horizons on our planet.
Secondly, you need that horizon to be flat: no buildings, mountains or hills to interfere or distract. The higher you get, the more horizon you can see and the greater the chance of discerning a curve. Firstly, you need decent elevation in order to be able to see as much horizon as possible. If you do want to challenge BoB, there are a few things you need to take into consideration. However, when it comes to seeing it from ground level, many suggest that while it’s theoretically possible, it’s not guaranteed. Scientists say that anyone flying at 35,000 feet on a clear day and with at least a 60-degree field of view will be able to discern the curve. Many of us have had similar experiences when perched on cliff tops and looking seaward, but is it just our minds playing wishful tricks? They claimed that while standing on a particularly high point and gazing out at the endless ocean, they could clearly make out the curvature of the Earth with their naked eyes. When I was in Chile a short while ago, I met a couple from California who had started their travels on Easter Island. But is it possible to view the curvature of the Earth without taking to the sky? Sadly, they make Concorde look like a bargain which means that most of us must turn to more terrestrial alternatives. Pressing my nose against the aircraft’s window and gazing from side to side, the curve was even more pronounced than the photo suggests, but these days I have to settle for those pictures to assure myself that BoB is mistaken.Īlthough Concorde no longer flies, there are similar aviation opportunities using retired military fighter aircraft in Moscow. It was taken with my brother’s old Pentax SLR and a standard 30mm (ish!) lens. I took the above photo from a British Airways Concorde at about 58,000 feet on a “trip to nowhere.” Until a decade or so ago, Concorde was the next best thing. Unfortunately however, although space tourism is edging ever closer, it’s still not quite here which means that we can rule out that particular vantage point at least for the time being. Obviously space, or very high altitude, is your best bet. If you believe that the Earth is round, or are at least willing to give that theory a chance, where on Earth can you venture to de-bunk BoB? 
BoB had reasoned that no matter where he’d been or how high he’d flown, he’d never seen first-hand evidence that the Earth is round and since seeing is believing, he’d chosen to disbelieve. Google Trends have reported a sharp increase in people searching “Is the Earth flat?” over the past few months, and a poll in the British newspaper The Telegraph had 7% taking BoB’s side. When BoB saw Baumgartner’s balloon but not the curvature of the Earth, he followed in the footsteps of centuries of sceptics and concluded that the Earth is flat.Īpparently, BoB is not alone. The pilot on BoB’s flight told everyone on board to look out the window to see the sun glinting off Baumgartner’s balloon floating five miles away. His epiphany apparently came during a 2012 flight made at the same time that Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner was leaping from a balloon high in the Stratosphere above New Mexico. (Kyslynskyy-iStock)Ī few weeks ago, Grammy-nominated rapper BoB told the Twitterverse that the Earth is flat. Planet Earth from above, where its curvature can reveal itself.
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