The distance at which a light may be seen at sea depends upon its luminous intensity, upon its color or spectral composition, upon its height and that of the observer's eyes above the sea-level, and upon the atmospheric conditions. Assuming a perfectly clear atmosphere, the visibility of a light-source apparently depends directly upon its candle-power. The atmosphere ordinarily absorbs the red, orange, and yellow rays less than the green, blue, and violet rays. This is demonstrated by the setting sun, which as it approaches closer to the horizon changes from yellow to orange and finally to red as the amount of atmosphere between it and the eye increases. For this reason a red light would have a greater range than a blue light of the same luminous intensity. Under ordinary atmospheric conditions the range of the more powerful light-sources used in lighthouses is greater than the range as limited by the curvature of the earth. For the uncolored illuminants the range in nautical miles appears to be at least equal to the square root of the candle-power. A real practical limitation which still exists is the curvature of the earth, and the distance an object may be seen by the eye at sea-level depends upon the height of the object. The relation is approximately expressed thus,-- Range in nautical miles = 8/7 square root of Height of object in feet. For example, the top of a tower 100 feet high is visible to an eye at sea-level a distance of 8/7 square root of 100 = 80/7 = 11.43 miles. Now if the eye is 49 feet above sea-level, a similar computation will show how far away it may be seen by the original eye at sea-level. This is 8/7 square root of 49 = 8 miles. Hence an eye 49 feet above sea-level will be able to see the top of the 100-foot tower at a distance of 11.43 + 8 or 19.43 nautical miles. Under these conditions an imaginary line drawn from the top of the tower to the eye will be just tangent to the spherical surface of the sea at a distance of 8 miles from the eye and 11.43 miles from the tower. The luminous intensity of a light-source or of the beam of light is directly responsible for the range. The luminous intensity of the early beacon-fires and oil-lamps was equivalent to a few candles. The improvements in light-sources and also in reflecting and refracting optical systems have steadily increased the candle-power of the beams, until to-day the beams from gas-lamps have intensities as high as several hundred thousand candle-power. The beams sent forth by modern lighthouses equipped with electric lamps and enormous light-gathering devices are rated in millions of candle-power. In fact, Navesink Light at the entrance of New York Bay is rated as high as 60,000,000 candle-power.