High Altitude Observations of Earth
Before the advent of aviation adventure seekers flew miles high in hot air balloons. These high altitude trips allowed aeronauts to observe the true nature of Earth without peering through the distorted nature of glass, windows, or a fish-eye lens. With the unaided eye they recorded their observations. Here are their testimonies. “The apparent concavity of the earth as seen from a balloon. – A perfectly-formed circle encompassed the visibly; planisphere beneath, or rather the concavo-sphere it might now be called, for I had attained a height from which the earth assumed a regularly hollowed or concave appearance – an optical illusion which increases as you recede from it. At the greatest elevation I attained, which was about a mile-and-a-half, the appearance of the world around me assumed a shape or form like that which is made by placing two watch glasses together by…