the curve of the earth globe vs the curve of the sun?

Question

If our horizon on earth is the line where we can't see any further as the curve of the earth drops away.. were you to stand on a globe the size of the sun (please ignore all talk of you would burn alive etc) what would the horizon look like? Would it be higher in the sky or would it be so high it would reduce the sky to just a tiny sliver and you would feel like you were in a hole. I'm talking no mountains just flat land or sea. This question has been bothering me all week! Thanks

Answer 1

Strangely enough the horizon appears roughly eye level and it would be the same however big the planet was or how tall you were.
If I could draw it I could explain it better but next time you are near the sea look and it will appear the sea rises up in front of you to about eye level

Answer 2

Actually, the bigger the globe you're on, the flatter and farther the horizon looks. For something the size of the Earth, the curvature of the horizon is practically too small to notice (I mean the drop to the left and right of where you're looking.)

On some planets, such as Venus, the atmosphere refracts light so much, that the horizon appears much higher up -- you would feel that you were at the bottom of a valley, with mountains all around you. This link has a picture.

Answer 3

When you're standing on the curved earth, it looks flat. The horizon isn't up in the sky, it is straight across.

On the sun it would be exactly the same: the horizon would be straight across, not up in the sky. But it would be much further away. On earth at 1.6m about sea level, the horizon is only about 5 kilometres away. On the sun it would be about ten times as far.

Answer 4

The sun bends space time around it and as a result the earth moves in an elliptical path around the sun this is exactly the same as, at least from an observational stand point, to the sun attracting the earth. Yes!! there is a time lag since all field effects travel at the speed of light and are not instantaneous, a major difference between ,relativity and classical physics. So if the sun were to suddenly vanish we would only realize it after some 8minutes later when a. we would no longer see any sunlight and b. the earth will no longer travel in an elliptical path .

Answer 5

The Sun is 1000X larger than all the planets in the Solar System put together. So, anyway, all I know is that if you look at the moon and the sun at the same time, they will appear exactly the same size. So I guess if you stood on the Sun looking at the Earth, you'd need a microscope to see it! And if you were the size you were standing on the Sun looking out, your horizon would never cease.

Answer 6

As you look out onto the horizon, your point on Earth is so small as to be insignificant, that the horizon appears level. You don't see the curvature of the earth. Your ability to see a particular distance is proportionate to your height (ie, if you were 100 feet tall, then your sight of the horizon would be proportionately further [ your sight to the horizon is really the hypotenuse of the triangle created by your body and the land]). Thus, on the sun, you would see roughly the same distance to the horizon, and it would appear exactly the same level as on Earth.

Answer 7

If you were standing on a perfectly flat piece of earth with perfect visibility, it would look like you were on a plane. You wouldn't very easily detect a curvature, earth is too big. Same as the sun, maybe a little more pronounced because of its much larger radius.

Answer 8

On the sun you would be able to see a long long way because it curves lees because of its huge size.

Answer 9

I agree with most others - it would look flat and like it went on forever.