Re: interesting pic for a classroom exercise?

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@SFU.CA>]

> <http://perso.club-internet.fr/legault/s010113.jpg>
>
> Q: how far away is the plane from the camera?
>
> My zeroth-order back of the envelope, unchecked, rough estimate, is
> 30 mi. Seems reasonable, but this depends linearly on the assumed
> length of the plane in my approximation. People familiar with
> airliners can probably recognize the plane immediately and know its
> length...
>
>
> Stefan Jeglinski

Using 60 m for the (projected) length of the plane, 33 minutes of arc
for the apparent diameter of the Sun (near perihelion), Latitude 48.783
degrees N and longitude 1.95 degrees E, I get the plane to be a slant
distance of 36 km, or 34 km distant at an altitude of 37,000 feet. The
plane is flying eastward, and perhaps someone will know if that is a
reasonable altitude under the circumstances.

Leigh

(The diameter and altitude of the Sun were found using Starry Night Pro.
I used the flat Earth approximation in this calculation, having already
given far too much time to it. Nonetheless, thanks, Stefan - a nice
problem, indeed.)