A matter of point of view

Dear members of sci.astro,

I have a question that have been mulling in my head for some time.

From our point of view inside the milky way, the sky is mostly
dark(ish) (at least in the visible range) punctuated by a few
thousdands stars (unaided vision).

On the other hand, a galaxy like M31, seen from outside,
i.e. from our planet, glows and looks like a single object
even though we know is very similar to our galaxy, made by
many billions and billions of stars.

So, my question is: if we were inside the Orion Nebula,
would the previous analogy hold? Would we see a mostly dark
sky with a few "streaks" of matter where the gas/dust
concentration is higher? Or would we see the whole sky
glowing like a permanent and possibly blinding daylight?

Thanks for your help.

Manu

"Emanuele D'Arrigo" wrote in message
om...
Dear members of sci.astro,

I have a question that have been mulling in my head for some time.

From our point of view inside the milky way, the sky is mostly
dark(ish) (at least in the visible range) punctuated by a few
thousdands stars (unaided vision).

On the other hand, a galaxy like M31, seen from outside,
i.e. from our planet, glows and looks like a single object
even though we know is very similar to our galaxy, made by
many billions and billions of stars.

So, my question is: if we were inside the Orion Nebula,
would the previous analogy hold? Would we see a mostly dark
sky with a few "streaks" of matter where the gas/dust
concentration is higher? Or would we see the whole sky
glowing like a permanent and possibly blinding daylight?

Thanks for your help.

Manu


For a start in answering your question, look at Tom Brown's recent HST image
of M31. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/2003/15/text It shows
that given sufficient resolution, other galaxies don't look like single
objects, they can be resolved into individual stars.

Jason

In message , Jason Rhodes
writes

"Emanuele D'Arrigo" wrote in message
. com...
Dear members of sci.astro,

I have a question that have been mulling in my head for some time.

From our point of view inside the milky way, the sky is mostly
dark(ish) (at least in the visible range) punctuated by a few
thousdands stars (unaided vision).

On the other hand, a galaxy like M31, seen from outside,
i.e. from our planet, glows and looks like a single object
even though we know is very similar to our galaxy, made by
many billions and billions of stars.

So, my question is: if we were inside the Orion Nebula,
would the previous analogy hold? Would we see a mostly dark
sky with a few "streaks" of matter where the gas/dust
concentration is higher? Or would we see the whole sky
glowing like a permanent and possibly blinding daylight?

Thanks for your help.

Manu


For a start in answering your question, look at Tom Brown's recent HST image
of M31. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/2003/15/text It shows
that given sufficient resolution, other galaxies don't look like single
objects, they can be resolved into individual stars.

Unless I'm much mistaken, the surface brightness of the Orion nebula
wouldn't be enormously brighter however close you were to it. If you
were inside it, the whole sky would seem as bright as the nebula does
now. In fact, you wouldn't see the fainter and more distant stars in
some directions because nebula dust would block them.
OTOH, you would have many bright stars, brighter than Venus, which would
excite the nebula near them to make bright knots and streaks.
I've never seen an aurora, but I wonder if the sky would look like that
all the time and not moving except over lifetimes.
--
"Forty millions of miles it was from us, more than forty millions of miles of
void"
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

Thank you guys for the answers.

Ciao ciao!

Manu