this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
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As I understand, the naked eye limit is the limit in which we can see distinct stars and not just a bright blurr. E.g. the centre bulge is visible from the southern hemisphere is outside the naked eye radius in the map.
Ahh, makes sense.
I'm not sure what part is more impressive... that stars are bright enough that we can see them fron 100s and 1000s of light years away, or that our eyes are able to resolve a pinpoint of light from that distance. Both angles are kinda mind blowing!
Only just now it's hitting me that when looking at globular clusters through a telescope, one is looking far, far beyond the single-star naked eye limit.