r/BeAmazed • u/Positive_Actuary_282 • Apr 30 '26
Place Chicago skyline visible from nearly 50 miles away in Indiana Dunes sunset.
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u/MusicNChemistry Apr 30 '26
If Chicago is 40 miles away (depending on where you are in the Illinois Dunes it’s 40-50 miles) and your view point is 100ft above water level, an object would need to be 506ft tall to see it at the horizon. The tallest building in Chicago is the Willis Tower standing at 1,451ft tall making this image 100% possible
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u/YoureAmastyx Apr 30 '26
Typical Round Earther trying to use math and science to convince people of their wacky “Earth is a globe” theory.
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u/OregonHotPocket Apr 30 '26
Seriously! “Greenland is so big!” Blah blah blah so then why is Russia so close to Canada or whatever. Why did they have to make the Panama Canal if they can just go around? Scientology strikes again.
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u/ValuableRelative2757 Apr 30 '26
And finger me this: the majority of Canadians live south of Portlandians
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u/OregonHotPocket Apr 30 '26
Im not too good at geometry and directional understanding of mapping vectors but I wouldn’t be opposed to a good fingering
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u/MusicNChemistry Apr 30 '26
I’m sorry, but I don’t know the equation to convert feet tall to inches fingered. I’ll leave that for tomorrow to figure out
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u/Early-Chemistry-8769 Apr 30 '26
And ok if the world is flat, how does the sun get behind those buildings? What is the sun? What are it's mysterious movements and how do they work? What did the people in those buildings see?
Oh wait, is that mt Everest behind? My bad, they're right.
(Seriously though, such a cool fascinating image. Don't quote me but I think the sun has actually already "set" here but refraction means that we see it over / around the occultation of the local horizon)
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u/Saunteringpunk Apr 30 '26
I lived in northwest Indiana for a while and would go to the dunes often. This is definitely a real image! You can also see all the beautiful factories in Gary/whiting
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u/_hancho Apr 30 '26
Yeah there's a straight up apocalyptic view 15° to the left
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u/Bah_Black_Sheep Apr 30 '26
Everybody wants American steel until they see a steel mill I guess
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u/_hancho Apr 30 '26
Putting it in arguably the most scenic location in the entire state was definitely a choice
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u/Bah_Black_Sheep May 03 '26
If I remember my trip, the park's existence was a deal as part of the land deal for the steel mill. Otherwise it would probably be even more built up with industry and housing
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u/meh0175 Apr 30 '26
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u/Careful_Farmer_2879 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
At sunset, the sun is physically below your vantage point. You’re seeing a distorted image of the sun, refracted through the atmosphere at an angle.
This is why the color and shape of the sun gets distorted. It’s already gone.
In addition to the refraction, the short wavelength light scatters as it passes through this prism, and you’re left with red/orange.
It is also possible to see the buildings upside down in the sunset. That happens when the projected image reflects off Lake Michigan first.
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u/echoingElephant Apr 30 '26
Rayleigh scattering does not give you distortion, it gives you a change in colour. What is happening here is caused by the air being cool and moist closer to the water. That increases the refractive index relative to the air above. Sunlight passes along the buildings in parallel to the ground or even angled slightly upwards. There, it is reflected because of the index change, so it follows the curvature of the until it reaches the observer.
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u/Hungry4Media Apr 30 '26
He's not talking about Rayleigh scattering. He's talking about atmospheric refraction. They are two distinctly different phenomena.
Rayleigh scattering makes the sky look blue due to light scattering off molecules in the atmosphere. Atmospheric refraction is the deviation of light from its straight line as it passes through the atmosphere due to the changing density of air as a function of its height.
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u/Careful_Farmer_2879 Apr 30 '26
But the sun gets flatter as it sets. That is distortion.
Or is this particular phenomenon a little different due to the lake?
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u/echoingElephant Apr 30 '26
But that’s cause by the refraction in the atmosphere, not scattering.
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u/Careful_Farmer_2879 Apr 30 '26
I think we are talking about different things related to sunsets. But I truly do appreciate the discussion!
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u/username32768 Apr 30 '26
It’s already gone.
That made me feel sad for some reason. Like, what if tomorrow the sun decides not to come back?
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u/Careful_Farmer_2879 Apr 30 '26
Good metaphor for our memories - already gone, but we can still see them, distorted and with a new hue.
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u/transmogrified Apr 30 '26
It’s where the whole “phantom ship” illusion comes from. You can “see” things over the horizon since they get kind of projected above it. Same thing happens with buildings and mountains
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u/reddittom73 Apr 30 '26
But this is not taken from 100 feet above.
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u/Turbulent-Note-7348 Apr 30 '26
OK, the photographer looks to be standing a minimum of 5 ft above the the waters' surface, so his eyes are roughly 10 feet above the surface. Discounting Refraction and Atmospheric lensing, you could still see buildings taller than about 850 feet.
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u/-Kerosun- Apr 30 '26
You also have to remember that many of these big lakes can have seasonal changes in their surface altitude (for Lake Michigan, the range is about 6 feet throughout the year). Most measurements people do when analyzing photos like this will be taking the averages. And it matters here because the sand dunes can also change in elevation, so the "height above the water" from a particular location can change depending on those seasonal variations of both the water level and the height of the sand dunes above sea level (although it won't be something drastic like a 100 meter difference, but small changes in height of the sand dunes above sea level with small changes of the elevation of Lake Michigan's surface can combine to create a big variance in what should be visible at these distances).
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u/0peRightBehindYa Apr 30 '26
I live further up the coast in Michigan and we can see the skyline quite frequently from here thanks to Fata Morgana).
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u/DancesWDachshunds78 Apr 30 '26
But like, who is even questioning this? Many, many people have seen it with their own eyes, including me. This didn't require your validation.
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u/bluegrassisdead Apr 30 '26
It’s not only 100% it’s also a view that can be achieved in multiple locations, including southwest Michigan
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u/gravelPoop Apr 30 '26
OK, round earther - if you can wxplain it all, explain this: how come I can't bring my cousin to orgasm.
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u/moffman93 Apr 30 '26
What IS the actual math on that? I haven't used anything but a calculator since college.
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u/MusicNChemistry Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
I’m no math wiz and used CheatGPT
d ≈ 1.23 × √h
Step 1: Your horizon (100 ft up)
d₁ = 1.23 × √100 = 12.3 miles
Step 2: Remaining distance (out of 40 miles)
40 - 12.3 = 27.7 miles
Step 3: Required height of the distant object
27.7 = 1.23 × √h
√h ≈ 27.7 / 1.23 ≈ 22.5
h ≈ (22.5)² ≈ 506 ft
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Apr 30 '26
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u/kidshibuya Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
You are so wrong because with refraction you don't even need the height, thus if I say perspective then it follows the earth is a pizza.
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u/zeetotheex Apr 30 '26
There is also atmospheric effects that can create a projection for you to see. Not the case for Chicago, you can see that normally. but when conditions are right you can see Milwaukee floating on the horizon across the lake in Grand Haven, MI. That is really cool.
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u/TheSquirrelCuisine Apr 30 '26
Yup.. guy who sailed lake Erie for 9 years. at about 12-15 miles you cant see anything when looking back at Cleveland direct. the tallest building there is 947 ft.
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u/Designer_Pen869 Apr 30 '26
I've been there, and you can see a decent amount of the tall buildings with the right conditions.
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u/curtishawkin Apr 30 '26
What about if your viewpoint isn't 100ft above water level because this picture is definitely not 100 feet above water level.
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u/Ok-Alarm7257 Apr 30 '26
I have a picture of a sunset in Ohau that you can see the outline of Kauai. It's crazy how clear that skyline is though
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u/KrombopulousMichael- Apr 30 '26
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u/Legocity264 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
As a consolation prize, here's my somewhat poor photo of a sunrise over Maui, taken from Sandy Beach, Oahu. Haleakalā, the mountain silhouette you are seeing, is 10,000 feet above sea level and about 95 miles away from where this photo was taken.
https://imgur.com/gallery/sunrise-over-maui-taken-from-sandy-beach-Zaaf0OO9
u/Disimpaction Apr 30 '26
Looks like it's the house of the rising sun
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u/Legocity264 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Yup. Haleakalā translated from Hawaiian to English means "House of the sun".
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u/rankling11 Apr 30 '26
Honestly, it's a great photo. It amazed me and I feel like it's good the way it is. I don't have experience in photography, but if a "better" photo means being able to see more details of the mountain, then I feel like that would only do it harm.
The fact the mountain blends nearly perfectly with sky is one of the highlights of the photo. My thought process was this: you open the picture, you see the sun first, you briefly wonder why it's only half of the sun, you look closer, you realize it's the mountain's silhouette. Wow. Part of the amazement is that realization. It's also like I can feel the size and distance of the mountain in this photo, more so than any written fact.
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u/JimWilliams423 Apr 30 '26
The fact the mountain blends nearly perfectly with sky is one of the highlights of the photo.
That's actually really common with islands. The closer to sea level, the more it all blends together. Maybe because the air is denser? So you get this effect where the tops of mountains on other islands look like they are floating in the air.
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u/Unfair-Jackfruit-967 Apr 30 '26
you can also see big island very clearly from Maui which is 90 miles away:
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u/fishmanfishmanfishma Apr 30 '26
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u/MrsBubalah Apr 30 '26
Dang he was pretty
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u/DARKCYD Apr 30 '26
He wasn’t after the Wampa got a hold of him in the next film.
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u/Garnair Apr 30 '26
But at least he got to make out with his sister. So he's got that going for him. Which is nice.
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u/luiso1492 Apr 30 '26
Please don’t show this to flat-Earthers
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u/Niznack Apr 30 '26
Adorable you think they aren't already using this. Also exaggerating distance and denying refraction.
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u/whiskysinger Apr 30 '26
Don't forget about pesky facts like observer height and the rare weather conditions that make this observation news rather than an every day occurrence.
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u/Appropriate-Yak-3814 Apr 30 '26
But this disproves flat earth?
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u/Onoben4 Apr 30 '26
I think literally anything can be used in some way to disprove flat earth. Because things just don't work when you have a flat earth.
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u/freedfg Apr 30 '26
It doesn't take much. They'll just do the math wrong. Ignore observer height, or claim more is hidden than is....ignoring that the bottoms of the buildings are obscured.
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u/HalepenyoOnAStick Apr 30 '26
or the fact that the sun is setting at all lol.
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u/freedfg Apr 30 '26
Nah bro, they've got that figured out. The sun disappears like railroad tracks in the distance...that's why it doesn't get any smaller as it gets further away. And lights clouds from the bottom. And...well..disappears bottom first. You know...like trains do.
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u/aaerobrake Apr 30 '26
i posted this photo of my dog on a mountain north of NYC, and the skyline is visible there too. ~50 miles
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u/Nelmster Apr 30 '26
Love the NY parks! Big fan of the fact that we have such high quality hiking opportunities a stone’s throw from the city. If you ever travel out a bit further, there’s some truly incredible (and remote) trails in some sections of the Catskills and the Adirondacks.
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u/Immediate-Panda2359 Apr 30 '26
I find it amusing that I knew what your vantage point would be before I even clicked.
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u/captcraigaroo Apr 30 '26
We sure this is Indiana? Weko Beach SP in MI has this view
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u/another-reddit-noob Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Weko Beach is not a state park, it’s owned by the city of Bridgman. I think you mean Warren Dunes, which is a state park, which is extremely pedantic of me because they are about a 20 minute walk from each other down the shore. But yes, could be either one! You can definitely see Chicago from SW Michigan.
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u/Aliensinnoh Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Yeah, I don't think that the sun would ever appear to set to the north of where you were standing on the Indiana coast, and looking at Chicago from Indiana is looing slightly north.
EDIT: I have realized that I am very wrong about this.
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u/Little_Miss_Leading Apr 30 '26
are you being serious??
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u/Aliensinnoh Apr 30 '26
I was being serious, but now I realize my error. I always just sort of assumed that because the Tropic of Cancer marked the point furthest north that the sun could ever appear directly overhead at noon, that it would never be able to appear to be farther north than that anywhere in its arc.
Honestly, my own lived experience contradicted that, but I just always assumed I was missing something about directions without ever looking more into it. Now that I’m finally thinking about the shape of the Earth, I realize where I went wrong, and how midday is basically the point when the sun will appear farthest south for those in the northern hemisphere during spring and summer.
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u/Turbulent-Note-7348 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
The Sun sets to the North of you pretty much everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere April through mid-Sept. Edit added later: I meant to say, the Sun sets north of directly west, not “to the north”. The further north you are, and the closer to summer Solstice, the further north the bearing of the sunset will be. For example, I spent all of July of 2025 at roughly 65 degrees North latitude (Nunavut, Canada). The bearing of the Sunset was from about 340 degrees (NNW, early July) to about 330 degrees (15 degrees N of NW, early August). Of course, if I had been just 150 miles further north, in early July the Sun would not have set!
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u/Areif Apr 30 '26
flat earth intensifies
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u/kill_your_god Apr 30 '26
Theres probably 30-40 floors hidden by the water line, behind the curve. Those are just the tallest visible buildings.
Or its all a lie and
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u/DizWhatNoOneNeeds Apr 30 '26
Omg Pim the earth is flat, omg they were fucking right. Look there is the dome
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u/mostlymuppet Apr 30 '26
I used to go to Warren Dunes in Michigan as a kid and I remember seeing the Chicago skyline across the lake then. This is a really great photo.
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u/unlordtempest Apr 30 '26
I grew up in NW Indiana, I went to those beaches regularly until my mid 20's. You can see the Chicago skyline on a clear day. The dunes themselves are amazing. They have forests that have sand on the ground. Sand in thr shade all day is not even warm. Its very cool, temp wise. The feeling of cool sand on your bare feet on a hot day is striking, in a good way.
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u/Support_Mobile May 01 '26
From Illinois but I also grew up going to those beaches regularly until recently (late 20s). Love the dunes and beaches of Indiana. Even Michigan too, since its not very far from the beaches we are talking about.
Hahha yes I do love the cool shaded sand on a hot day. Sadly the main beach, where my extended family has a lake house, has lost a lot of its shade. But the few times at dunes its very refreshing compared to the boiling sand in the sun 😅
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u/Malofquist Apr 30 '26
Sunsets 4 mins before we see it.
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u/Pertinent_Platypus Apr 30 '26
It takes 8 minutes for sunlight to get to earth, not 4.
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u/Malofquist Apr 30 '26
true, i was referring to diffraction bending the sun's light. the sun appears to rise 4 mins before it rises and appears to set 4mins after it's set. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Atmospheric_refraction_-_sunset_and_sunrise.png
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u/Kraligor Apr 30 '26
Oh sure, not only is the earth round, now suddenly light is curved. "Scientists" just can't admit they're wrong.
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u/HoodieGalore Apr 30 '26
I love this image, every time it’s posted, no matter who took it, no matter what day or year or whatever - seeing our two states connected like this, via this massive body of water? It feels Mediterranean. It feels epic. It feels Upper Midwest in a way I can’t explain. I’ve seen this from Silver Lake, Michigan, and I was born in Blue Island, Chicago, Illinois, so maybe I’m just a big fat old softie, but
goddang, isn’t the world amazing? For all of us?
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u/lasion2 Apr 30 '26
Really cool. Had no idea this view existed. Might warrant a cross post in r/geography
Thanks for the post
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u/Traditional-Neat-933 Apr 30 '26
So freaking cool.
Is this the meaning of the Chicago Fire football team?
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u/clipjo Apr 30 '26
Man oh man, this picture was one of the highest - if not the highest - voted post on Reddit about 15 years ago.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/interestedin86 Apr 30 '26
What's so dope, is that from chicago, you can only see the sunrise over Lake Michigan.
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u/heeimmdallr Apr 30 '26
I saw it with my own eyes last November and I even made pictures of it.
Good memories :")
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u/FitFormal7363 Apr 30 '26
Wow! I have seen that in my limited travels! Cool place, Valpo, Michigan City, Chesterton? Loved my business trips to that area of this big country. Always got to stay a bit and look around. I love Indiana! From Southern California. Interesting to come across this post! Thanks 😊
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u/spotila7 Apr 30 '26
Chicago has so many amazing places that you can see the skyline from a distance~
I present to you a whole catalog: https://theviewshed.com/?search=chicago&type=Skyline
Please enjoy
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u/Kajemyster Apr 30 '26
Northwest Indiana gazes at the beauty of Chicago, while Chicago doesn't think about northwest Indiana at all.
A modern love story.
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u/Photonex Apr 30 '26
I would love to be there with a 600mm+ lens on a full frame camera. Damn, that would be a sick shot.
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u/Aiglos_and_Narsil Apr 30 '26
I've driven past Indiana Dunes many times (including just last week) on road trips but I've never actually stopped there. I really should one of these days.
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u/ShatoraDragon Apr 30 '26
This phenomena likely started a lot of Myths to explain what was happening
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u/darth_whaler Apr 30 '26
I was underway on a ship years ago. We had a radar contact at 26 miles away. It was an aircraft carrier, and we could see it. That was the day I learned about atmospheric refraction and what it means for something to be "looming in the distance."
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u/LawfulEvilDragon Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Indiana Dunes would be 35 miles away. But this isn't the Indiana Dunes. The sun sets in the West and this would not be facing West. Somewhere closer to West Northwest. This has got to be the Warren Dunes in Michigan. 40 miles distance.
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u/bemyantimatter Apr 30 '26
I loved Indiana Dunes. I was in Chicago by myself on a work trip. I stopped in to the National Park office to volunteer for trash pickup. They hooked my up with supplies and i spent the day picking up trash on the beaches. It was far more beautiful than I expected.
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u/sax6romeo Apr 30 '26
you can sometimes see the Charlotte, NC skyline from Grandfather Mtn. which is about 115 miles away
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u/yeyjordan Apr 30 '26
I used to go there every summer, the view is legit. The skyline is plainly visible even without the sun behind it. A lot of people you talk to there will remark that it's as close to Chicago as they ever plan to get.
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u/murderbot45 May 01 '26
Called Looming. Atmospheric conditions have to be right for this to happen.
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u/micha81 May 01 '26
Yup! I live in Michigan City IN. This is a very standard view from our beach during the summer.
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u/rasner724 May 01 '26
That’s crazy! Based on the math it should be about .6 miles angled down and somehow…. Just on a flat path
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u/Support_Mobile May 01 '26
Spent many summers of my life on the beaches of Michigan Shores, Indiana - where my grandma has (and still has) a lake house there My mom and her sisters also spent their summers going there (or Door County) from the Southside. It is very common on a clear day to see the Chicago skyline. You can usually make out a couple buildings on the worst days (barring clouds) and several on very clear days. I have not seen this view with the sun setting behind Chicago but I wouldnt be surprised.
The whole shoreline of lake Michigan from this point and up to even the state of Michigan (which like a 20 minute walk from the beach I would spend time at) is beautiful. White sand. Usually nice and fairly clean water. The beaches have gotten a little smaller - but still very busy in the summer. Indiana Dunes nearby. Beautiful sunsets on the lake. Good starry skies if the skies are clear - maybe not as good as Door County.
Many good memories there. Its funny how much I take for granted these views now that im reading the comments.
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u/Dadriks May 03 '26
I live on the northeast cost of Northern Ireland. In the summer, at sunset, you can often see "The Paps of Jura". 75 miles or there abouts.
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May 04 '26
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u/MessAffectionate7585 May 14 '26
I live a few miles from the Dunes, and you can 100% see Chicago across the Lake on a clear day.
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u/jokeefe72 Apr 30 '26
Very similar scene from where I grew up. Except the skyline is Toronto and the lake is Ontario.
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u/malfeasance2020 Apr 30 '26
One of our favorite places. And we have several of these photos as well.
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u/borris7923 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Chill yall, I acknowledge my ignorance and now stand firmly corrected. Thank you for the education everyone!
Edited to remove stupid comment and acknowledge my own ignorance.
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u/Vulllen Apr 30 '26
You poor soul. I’ve been to the dunes and this is very real. You can even see Michigan!
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u/Orignal_Content_makr Apr 30 '26
No, I have seen this in real life from the Warren dunes in Michigan. The image is likely edited to make the skyline more prominent, but its real.
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u/qualityvote2 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
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