When we look at the Stars ( question)

When i look up at the stars without a telescope , is every star i see
in the Milky way Galaxy ?
Or do i see stars from other galaxies???

thanks for the info

Unknown Male wrote:
When i look up at the stars without a telescope , is every star i see
in the Milky way Galaxy ?
Or do i see stars from other galaxies???

thanks for the info


Depends on what exactly you mean by "see a star". ;-)


All stars which you can see as *single points* with your naked eye are
in the Milky Way galaxy - actually pretty close to us, I think not more
than at most 1000 light years away (consider that the diameter of the
Milky Way is around 100 000).

But additionally, you can see some nebulous structures - first the band
called "Milky Way" itself, and second some other rather small blots. The
"band" is essentially the combined light of lots of stars (by using a
telescope, you can see again single points in this band), which are
farer away from us that the ones which you can see as single points with
your eyes. The nebulous blots are partly *really* nebulae (i.e. large,
glowing gas clouds), but partly also *other* galaxies. There, too, you
see the combined light of lots of stars instead of single points.


Bye,
Bjoern

"Unknown Male" wrote in message
...
When i look up at the stars without a telescope , is every star i see
in the Milky way Galaxy ?
Or do i see stars from other galaxies???

thanks for the info


You are seeing stars in our galaxy only.
You cannot see individual stars from other galaxies
without a very large telescope.

On Wed, 12 May 2004 04:13:27 -0400, Unknown Male wrote:

When i look up at the stars without a telescope , is every star i see
in the Milky way Galaxy ?
Or do i see stars from other galaxies???

thanks for the info


Every star you see is IN our galaxy. Every object you see through a
telescope (with the exception of other galaxies) is IN our galaxy.

In article rOvoc.14901$A27.4253@fed1read06, Chosp wrote:

"Unknown Male" wrote in message
...
When i look up at the stars without a telescope , is every star i see
in the Milky way Galaxy ?
Or do i see stars from other galaxies???

thanks for the info

You are seeing stars in our galaxy only.
You cannot see individual stars from other galaxies
without a very large telescope.

....unless the star is a supernova in a fairly nearby galaxy. Some
years ago, a supernova in M81 was visible in small telescopes.

And then we have S Andromedae, a supernova in M31, which peaked at
magnitude 5.4 in August 1885 and thus reached naked-eye visibility;
it's doubtful whether anyone actually saw it naked-eye though.

Finally we have the supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud,
which was easily visible to the naked eye: it peaked at magnitude
2.9 in February 1987


So sometimes stars from galaxies other than our own are visible
in small amateur telescopes, or even to the naked eye.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter, Grev Turegatan 40, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se
WWW: http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/
http://home.tiscali.se/pausch/

"Tom Randy" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 May 2004 04:13:27 -0400, Unknown Male wrote:

When i look up at the stars without a telescope , is every star i see
in the Milky way Galaxy ?
Or do i see stars from other galaxies???

thanks for the info


Every star you see is IN our galaxy. Every object you see through a
telescope (with the exception of other galaxies) is IN our galaxy.

Well... maybe except for the large and small magellanic clouds, but you
could make the argument that they are "other" galaxies (sort of).

"Bjoern Feuerbacher" wrote in message
...
Unknown Male wrote:
When i look up at the stars without a telescope , is every star i see
in the Milky way Galaxy ?
Or do i see stars from other galaxies???

thanks for the info


Depends on what exactly you mean by "see a star". ;-)


All stars which you can see as *single points* with your naked eye are
in the Milky Way galaxy - actually pretty close to us, I think not more
than at most 1000 light years away (consider that the diameter of the
Milky Way is around 100 000).

I believe that Deneb (the 19th brightest star in the sky) is about 3,200
light years away.