How many miles in each direction can you see from the top of the Empire State building?

[timz]

Originally Posted by Hudson11

it's 1776 feet in the sky neighboring buildings wont be able to see it and i doubt it will bother those at a distance either.

Depends what you mean by "bother"-- if it were halfway bright they'd consider themselves bothered, all right. Don't plan on seeing anything dazzling up there, unless it's a special occasion; 1WTC is in too many people's back yard.

[NewYorkSkyline117]

I hope all of you doubters are talking smack. For starters, Philly is NOT 90 miles from New York. It's just about 80. I took this picture the other day from Top of the Rock, only 850 feet tall and 400 feet below the 102nd floor of the ESB. It's Bridgeport, Connecticut's smokestack which is 500 feet tall and 51 miles away. I could see it with my naked eye and don't question it because i confirmed it with google earth plus the bank building is to the left in the photo. Now imagine being on the 102nd floor, 1,223 feet up, and look for a 975 foot building in Philly, the Comcast Center, I'm pretty sure looking an extra 29 miles to Philly beyond 51 to pridgeport plus with a 475 higher building, it's 100% possible. I know for sure because I found the Comcast Center, only the Comcast Center, with the binoculars on the observation deck. It's very distinguishable if you know what you're looking at.

image hosted on flickr

[timz]

If by chance the Comcast Center is actually visible from the ESB 102nd floor, here's how to find it.

The arch of the Bayonne bridge extends from azimuth 227.8 deg to 228.7 deg, so you can gauge where to look beyond it for the Hess office bldg at 40.5468N 74.2921W

http://binged.it/IUrCwi

which covers azimuth 229.24 to 229.33. That helps you find the 300-meter mast at 40.28262N 74.68629W in azimuth 229.17 deg; it's hard to see in the morning but it shows up well silhouetted against the afternoon sky.

The top of Comcast Center would extend from 229.123 to 229.145 deg. I'm still working on how unlikely it is to be visible over the curve of the earth.

[kahle333]

Very interesting discussion. I thought I was the only one who was interested in exactly how far you can see certain things from.

One day when I flew out of Newark airport it was a very rare extremely clear day. From northern NJ at what must have been about 15,000 ft......I could see Philly, Atlantic City, Delaware Memorial Bridge, and Cape May. So it is certainly possible to see these places from afar. The question is, at what height can you see them?
Once on another very clear day I was in my friends Cessna over Atlantic City at 5,000 ft and could see the NYC skyline.
When flying over Lakewood NJ in the same Cessna coming in for a landing, I could see Philadelphia (60 miles distant?) down to about 500ft before it disappeared below the trees. I could see NYC at Lakewood down to about 400 feet.
There is also a 300ft hill in southern monmouth county about 40 something miles south of NYC called Pine Hill where you can see NYC from land. I searched far and wide for such a place and found it.
You can also see both NYC and Philadelphia from the top of Great Adventures Kingda Ka (500ft tall) in Jackson NJ (or so one of the workers told me)
The point is, I think it is very possible that you could see the comcast center from WTC1 once it is complete.

[Uaarkson]

With a telescope, sure.

From the top of Ann Arbor's tallest building (about 90m), on an exceptionally clear day, you can see the skyscrapers in Southfield, and sometimes Detroit itself. The airfields at DTW are also visible.

But yeah, I also have an interest in this kind of thing. There are several landfills in rural Genesee county from which you can spot Flint.

[Seattlelife]

You could see Cape May from a plane in Newark and both NYC and Philly from a roller coaster? That's amazing! Here in Seattle we have so many mountains and so few tall landmarks outside of Puget Sound that it's hard to make a comparison like this. The closest I can come is being able to see Mt Baker to my north and Mt Ranier, Mt Adams, Mt St Helens and Mt Hood (in Oregon!) to my south on my approach to Sea Tac airport.