United States observation tower
Sunsphere
You can see 89 km from here, looking east.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 89 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 89 kmFarthest ridgelooking east
- 99%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 15Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 267 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 15 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from August to November.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Febwest8 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Marwest6 min before the sea-level sunset35%
- Aprwest8 min before the sea-level sunset42%
- Maynorth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset39%
- Junnorth-west10 min before the sea-level sunset44%
- Julnorth-west10 min before the sea-level sunset40%
- Augwest8 min before the sea-level sunset46%
- Sepwest6 min before the sea-level sunset51%
- Octwest8 min before the sea-level sunset50%
- Novsouth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset47%
- Decsouth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Sunsphere.
Observation tower in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
Sunsphere is an observation tower in United States, 267 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 89 km away, looking east.
15 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Kuwohi (2,025 m), 59 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 99% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from August to November.
Get there and stay
- Going upCheck the opening hours before you go: towers and decks close in bad weather.Official site↗
- Low Meadow Farmscampsite · 9.6 km · 2 within 10 km
- Marriott Knoxvilleplace to stay · 0.1 km · 55 within 10 km
- Knoxvillenearest town · 0.3 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in KnoxvilleBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 18 km in a straight lineCar hire at TYS airport (Knoxville/Maryville)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 3other viewpoints within 5 kmRiver Bluff Overlook
- 8named peaks within 5 kmWise Hill, Barber Hill, Marble Hill and 5 more
- 17shelters and huts within 5 km
- 440car parks within 3 km
- 3visitor centres within 5 kmVisit Knoxville Visitors Center, Safety City Welcome Center
- 120restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 2campsites within 10 kmLow Meadow Farms
- 55places to stay within 10 kmMarriott Knoxville, Hampton Inn Knoxville-Downtown, Cumberland House Knoxville, Tapestry Collection by Hilton and 52 more
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
- marked trails within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Sunsphere, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas48 mountains within 25 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Sunsphere
United States
- 68Viewyas Score
- 89 kmFarthest ridge
- 15Peaks in view
- 267 mAltitude
Mount Mitchell
United States · 151 km
- 79Viewyas Score
- 209 kmFarthest ridge
- 63Peaks in view
- 2,024 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q1501055) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
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waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
birdwatching
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forests
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