this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
150 points (99.3% liked)
Map Enthusiasts
3594 readers
123 users here now
For the map enthused!
Rules:
-
post relevant content: interesting, informative, and/or pretty maps
-
be nice
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
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.
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.
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!
Ahh, makes sense.