Science
In reply to the discussion: My God, this is beautiful! [View all]D Gary Grady
(133 posts)The problem isn't our location but our eyes' sensitivity to light. On the next clear night go out and look at the constellation Orion. It's full of glorious nebulae plenty big enough to see with our eyes, but you need at least binoculars or a small telescope to see how glorious they look, not because of magnification but to gather more light. (And to see them in all their glory you really need a time exposure.) Or look at Andromeda on the side toward Pegasus: The great Andromeda Galaxy is five times the width of the full moon, but all we can see with our eyes is a dim impression of the central bulge. For that matter, in most cities the milky way is too dim to see, but go someplace dark with a camera, a tripod, and a wide-angle lens, and shoot a time exposure. Wow! I'm sure the original poster wasn't being a downer, just informative.