Where in the universe would the naked eye provide this view

Is this kind of a veiw possible with the naked eye:
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2..._wallpaper.jpg

in other words - if a planet (and its parent star) where some number
of lightyears above the pole of this galaxy, would their nightime sky
appear like this photo. I have to think maybe not - but I don't know
why. Any one know?

- Ben

I would guess that the unaided human eye would not have the ability to "see"
a scene like this.

The retina doesn't have the ability to accumulate all the light seen in this
image and store it for viewing.

That's my take, how about the pros get into this one?

F Marion

We are near the edge of our galaxy, and when we look 'into' it, we see
spiral arms, dust lanes, etc. No matter where we were, I don't think we
would see so much detail as the image mentioned though.

Francis Marion wrote:

I would guess that the unaided human eye would not have the ability to "see"
a scene like this.

The retina doesn't have the ability to accumulate all the light seen in this
image and store it for viewing.

That's my take, how about the pros get into this one?

F Marion



--
Tom Rankin - Programmer by day, amateur astronomer by night!
Mid-Hudson Astronomy Association - http://jump.to/mhaa

When replying, remove the capital letters from my email address.

Ben Shoemate wrote:
Is this kind of a veiw possible with the naked eye:
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2..._wallpaper.jpg

in other words - if a planet (and its parent star) where some number
of lightyears above the pole of this galaxy, would their nightime sky
appear like this photo. I have to think maybe not - but I don't know
why. Any one know?

I think it would look like a paler, monochrome version of the picture.
It would be a stunning sight, that's for sure--although perhaps the
inhabitants of the planet would find it commonplace. Too bad!

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

On 25 Mar 2004 15:20:09 -0800, (Ben Shoemate) wrote:

Is this kind of a veiw possible with the naked eye:
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2..._wallpaper.jpg

in other words - if a planet (and its parent star) where some number
of lightyears above the pole of this galaxy, would their nightime sky
appear like this photo. I have to think maybe not - but I don't know
why. Any one know?

You would need to be maybe 10,000 ly above the pole of M51 to have this
viewpoint. But it wouldn't look anything like this. No matter how close you get
to it, the galaxy will never be any brighter than you see it through a telescope
from Earth. That means you won't see any color, and just a vague spiral
structure, probably not unlike what you would see if you twisted the Milky Way
around on the night sky. An impressive sight, maybe, but nothing like this
picture.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

On 25 Mar 2004 15:20:09 -0800, Ben Shoemate wrote:

Is this kind of a veiw possible with the naked eye:
http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2..._wallpaper.jpg

in other words - if a planet (and its parent star) where some number
of lightyears above the pole of this galaxy, would their nightime sky
appear like this photo. I have to think maybe not - but I don't know
why. Any one know?

As you guess, nowhere. That kind of view is only possible with accumlated
light capture. To a continuous-detection device like the human eye (or
camcorder), no galaxy will ever appear like that. When you get closer,
stars that are borderline resolvable become resolved into faint point
sources, and stars previously too faint to see become part of the
unresolved haze.

It's obvious when you consider the fact that the Milky Way and Andromeda
galaxy look pretty much the same, despite the latter being over two
million light years away, while the former (the unresolved band, of
course, not the galaxy as a whole) is tens of thousands of light years
away.

--
- Mike

Remove 'spambegone.net' and reverse to send e-mail.