when u see an airplane high in the sky how far is it roughly in miles and how far can we see?

Question

in miles with our eyes!

Answer 1

Commercial aircraft typically cruise at up to (say) 35,000 feet or about 6 miles. Whether they have reached their cruising height when you see them depends on how far from the airport you live.

As to how far we can see them - I saw a programme over Christmas about how air traffic control only track aircraft over the Atlantic to the limit of what they can see by radar - about 250 miles, IIRC - and since that also depends on line-of-sight I'd guess you can see them (or their vapour trails) to about the same distance.

To check that - the distance to the horizon in km is approximately SQRT(13 x h) where h is the height in metres. That gives 370km or 230 miles - close enough, I think!

Answer 2

The human eye can see an almost unlimited distance. Looking up into the sky on a very clear night, the Triangulum Galaxy can sometimes be seen. This is a distance of 3.14 million light years. The Andromeda Galaxy is also sometimes visible. This is a distance of 2.5 million light years.

However, it must be pointed out that when we see these galaxies what we actually "see" is something at a somewhat lesser distance. What we "see" is light from the far away object rather than the object itself. What happens is that light coming from the object strikes our optic nerve. The optic nerve signals the brain. The brain then interprets this message and forms an image. The brighter the object, the farther away it can be from us and still be "seen".

Answer 3

about 6 to 6 1/2 miles up. and I can see the moon and past on a clear night

Answer 4

Aeroplanes generally cruise at an altitude of 5 miles. This is the height that gives them best fuel consumption because the lack of air gives less drag. On a long journey it is worth the plane burning extra fuel to reach this height because of the amount of fuel it will eventually save.

How far can you see? As far as the horizon which for a 6 ft person is generally calculated at 14 miles. go to the top of a mountain of course and you can see considerably further

Answer 5

It really depends on the airplane in question. Different airplanes fly at different altitudes. Unless you have a radar or some kind of laser range finder which you can aim at the airplane you have spotted, you won't be able to tell. But if you are going to try a laser range finder, please be careful; some airplanes especially military or government types have warning systems that alert their pilots that a laser is pointing at them or tracking them. That could spell trouble for you because certain defensive tools may come after you.

Answer 6

The folks who say 5 miles are wrong. Most airliners are at or above 35,000 feet, or 7 miles up. However, unless it's right above you, the slant range distance is much further. When you see one about halfway between straight up and the horizon, it's closer to 10 miles away.

Answer 7

Most commercial aircraft are cruising at about 6-7 miles up. and yes you can see them. If you are wondering how far you can see then go out at night and look at the stars. Some of them are millions of light years away.....is that far enough

Answer 8

most airplanes cruise at about 30-37 thousand feet which is between 6-8 miles which is very far

Answer 9

Go outside at dusk, with even a cheap pair of binoculars, look around the sky, chances are that you will see some kind of "space debris", there are solar panels, tools, pieces of satellite floating around all over the place, so much so, that space walks are only done when necessary, and only when the shuttle is turned to protect the astronaut, there's tons of junk up there, AND YOU CAN SEE IT EASILY at dusk, or dawn, with a low powered binoculars (7x, 8x, or 10x power)

Answer 10

How far can we see? Very very far. The stars you see at night are trillions of miles away. I'm not sure if that's what you're asking, though.