Abstract
ON the occasion of his ascent to the stratosphere above Dakota in November 1935, Capt. A. W. Stevens took a number of photographs of great interest. The National Geographic Society, which organised the balloon ascent, directs particular attention to one of these photographs which was taken at a height of 72,395 ft. This picture, which covers 33,000 sq. miles, includes a stretch of horizon 220 miles in length taken at a distance of approximately three hundred miles. A stratum of haze lies above the horizon, but the curve of the horizon can be noted when the picture is projected on a screen, or, more clearly, when a ruler is laid across the picture. The photograph is not yet published, but the National Geographic Magazine of January, which contains a long account of the flight by Capt. A. W. Stevens, contains an earlier photograph taken by him in the Andes from a height of 21,000 ft. which also shows the curvature of the horizon.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
The Curvature of the Earth. Nature 137, 179 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137179c0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137179c0