No doubt you have heard someone say that a particular sky was ablaze with stars. Or maybe there were a million stars in the sky. Perception is relative, and sometimes, although the sky might seem ablaze or inhabited by millions of stars, or any one of a number of other strong statements people tend to make about the night sky, the reality may be different. There is a good deal of poetic license involved when people describe the night sky, and understandably so. A starlit sky from a very dark location can be stunning. But, in reality, no one can see millions of stars with the eye alone. With the most excellent eyesight, under the best sky conditions, you can see only a few thousand stars.
And, in reality, those few thousand stars we can see with the eye alone from Earth actually appear pretty dim. How dim? I’ll tell you in this post – and also tell you how bright all the stars would appear if rolled into a single point in the sky.
Be forewarned, the following paragraphs contain numbers. If numbers hurt your head, you can just skip on to the last paragraph. Otherwise, read on.
What a great article ... read on at EarthSky.
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