Experiment for 4th of July

I recently saw the Shimshon footage of Israel to Crete at sunset with a long range IR camera setup. The experiment was interesting, but it wasn't possible to confirm he was actually seeing Crete. In a comment I read, someone suggested it would be better if there was someone in front of that mountain in Crete shooting off a flare. From that I started thinking of other times and places around the United States where this kind of picture might be replicable. Obviously, getting a shot like Shimshon did with the sun setting behind a high mountain is a great idea, and takes good advantage of an IR set up. Also, the fact that there was a platform in the sea was good to show the lack of movement of the silhouettes.

My experiment idea is using a similar camera set up and trying to take long range pictures of firework shows from varying distances. Could someone in Key West point a phone at Cancun (~395mi) and see a firework show (yes they do that in Cancun) or vice versa? Or Could someone on the east side of Lake Superior (Marathon, CA) point a camera at Duluth (~300mi) and see the glow of fireworks? The idea is straight lines over water, where fireworks displays happen. Large mortar fireworks go roughly 250-500 ft up, depending on the show.

Other idea locations: San Diego <-> Santa Barbara (185mi) Cape Blanco Lighthouse, Oregon Coast to Cannon Beach, OR north (~210mi), or Eureka, CA south (~150mi) North Coast Lake Michigan, Manistique maybe, to Chicago (~290mi) Toledo <-> Buffalo (~250mi) Anything from Cape Hatteras, NC north (from 200-500mi) and South (from 400-700mi) Cancun across the Gulf is going to be in the 400-700 mile range.

I could keep going. The point is this opportunity fairly accessible to a lot of people, and the bother of finding someone to shoot a flare are a specific time while you are filming is not necessary. We do that every 4th of July. The weather at some of these locations will be bad some years, but this is an easily repeatable experiment, year in and year out.

Perhaps it can be done all over the Southern Hemisphere on New Years…

Hoping this puts the bug in some ears who are near by a location where this is able to be carried out.

Shimson's camera setup piqued my interest, but his experiment setup wasn't convincing enough.