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Updated: Jul 7, 2025

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Published on: February 12, 2013
The everchanging Sky-Tower - an apparent giant
Dietrich S Schwarzkopf, Annelise Kolf1, Cathy Lai1
1University of Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Abstract:
For over a quarter-century, the Sky-Tower has dominated the skyline of Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau. Despite its imposing height, observers anecdotally report odd fluctuations in how big it appears. From certain angles, it can look positively stumpy. Such misperceptions can be bewildering and perilous when it happens whilst driving. Here, we characterise this strange illusion in the hopes of better understanding its cause.
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