With regard to the question, my answer was C but text has A as the answer. My thoughts were the brighter the night the closer they look and dark nights further away ? Probably be answered with my previous question on the Errata.
Hi Paul,
Yes, this is very closely related to the earlier errata question, and it is exactly why CASA likes this area. They can change the wording slightly and make the answer appear to reverse.
In this question, the key words are:
a small town
approximately five nautical miles away
on a dark night
A small town at night is made up of a group of bright lights against a dark background. Bright lights seen in darkness tend to appear closer than they really are. So the correct answer is:
[a] closer than it actually is on a dark night
Your reasoning about dim lights or poor visibility making things appear further away is also correct — but that is a different case.
The trap is:
Bright lights on a dark night → appear closer than they really are.
Dim lights, haze, smoke or poor visibility → appear further away than they really are.
So the town lights are not being treated as “dark” or “dim”. They are bright lights being viewed in darkness, and that makes them appear closer.
A simple way to remember it is:
Bright lights in the dark pull you in — they look closer.
Dim lights or haze push things away — they look further away.
So your answer would have been correct if the question had said something like dim runway lights, haze, smoke, or poor visibility. But because it says a town on a dark night, the book answer A is correct.
Thanks again 🍺