at sea level how far is the horizon
For a person standing at sea level, however, the horizon is only about 3 miles away. Lets do the calculations. The figure below shows an observer whose eyes are a distance E above sea level. A straight line drawn from the observers eyes tangent to the seas surface touches it at the distance d1, which is the distance to the horizon. If R is the radius of the earth, then, to first order in E/R, it is easy to show that.