Why can't my headlights shine more than 160 feet in front of me, but stars can emit light that travels allllll the way the fuck to us here on the earth... I understand that on earth, there is atmosphere and whatnot that scatters and stops the light from shining further, but isnt starlight travelling through arguably much more atmosphere to shine all the way the fuck to my eyes? I mean- what the fuck- Why do people believe this shit? Can someone explain to me why I can see starlight from billions of miles away?
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Because the light you see 160 feet out is being bounced back to you after being filtered by the pigments of the objects being cast on and is now a much weaker, dimmer light. Think of stars like headlights coming at you from down the road, you see the light that's shinning right into your eyes. Also stars are bright enough to burn your eyes out of the sockets.
Ok- yes. i Get it that stars are "super bright" ... can you also explain how, while we are spinning and spinning and all the shit in space is spinning and spinning, and the space is growing and expanding, how that FUCKING STAR light keeps pointing in a perfectly straight line to us on earth? Even though light is very easy to diffuse here on earth. Just wondering why what we actually observe about light on earth DOESNT appy at all to light in space. Would literally love a good explanation that isnt some religious mumbo jumbo about muh science.
they don't point in a specific direction, they radiate light in all directions. using the headlight metaphor, imagine all headlights were instead bright-ass balls emitting light in all directions, with the brightness being equivalent to the concentrated brightness real headlights emit.
edit: actually I think the headlights metaphor is not quite apt. think more of those marker lights that tall buildings use for helicopters and such. You can see those red lights from any direction from miles away, farther than the curvature of the Earth. now imagine those lights being orders of magnitude brighter than they currently are, and you roughly get a star.
I know I said think of stars as headlights down the road and now I know it was the wrong analogy for you. A firecracker emits light in all directions, no matter where you stand as long as nothing opaque is blocking your vision you can see it. Stars are fireworks that burn continuously like a sparkler, the entire pathway the earth takes around the sun is being hit by that light and the earth is moving into it.
Ever write things or make designs with a sparkler on a warm summer night? Interesting how that movement, which is pretty small, turns the ball of light into streaks..........
well duh. but i am supposed to believe that the light a star emits is strong enough to travel billions of miles and through the entire atmosphere of earth to my eyes...
can you also explain how, while we are spinning and spinning and all the shit in space is spinning and spinning, and the space is growing and expanding, how that FUCKING STAR light keeps pointing in a perfectly straight line to us on earth? Even though light is very easy to diffuse here on earth. Just wondering why what we actually observe about light on earth DOESNT appy at all to light in space. Would literally love a good explanation that isnt some religious mumbo jumbo about muh science.
I am not trying to get at anything other than understanding of what is out there- I do not believe any flat earth stuff - but i also do not believe any globe earth stuff mostly because none of it makes sense. I have lots of conversations, asking questions, and no one who believes the globe earth spinning in space narrative is able to actually answer the questions i have with any sort of clarity or logic. I am searching for someone who can convince me that we are living on a spinning globe in space. it would be nice. but so far, its looking pretty dismal.
if i wanted stephen hawking i would pick up a book. i am trying to engage in conversation with open-minded folks who may be able to point me in directions that I may not have known about. Its really not that difficult to understand...
Im more of a flat earther check out NathanOakley1980 at Flat Earth Debate. Globies cant even explain like you said and the map they use is that of a projection of the globe on a flat earth using altitude measurements. Okay so majority of gas 75-80% is below the cloud levels. Now do to temperture that level can be higher or lower. Gases go through cycles absorbed and released by living things, us, trees, etc. the gases that do get past this cloud level expand out to about 10-20miles since gas expands there are less particles of gas up there. If you believe in a vacuum you have to define it, so lets say that a vacuum is an environment that has particles but they are less than .001% of the particles found on earth, and times that by all the other planets. I think NASA says the vacuum starts at sea level and gradients upward (could be wrong). So the light from stars has no resistance or obstruction other then planets and moons. Where as your headlights have 75-80% of gas particles to obstruct or bend its travels. This is just what I would postulate their answer to be.
I get this. however, I am only 5 foot 9. So, starlight has to travel through that same atmosphere (that fucks with headlights) to get to my eyes right?
Yes but the distance they travel is unobstructed from particles until it hits the particles in the air of our planet.
this is just one of my many questions that I would really like a straight answer to other than a low-energy lazy response like "because its a fucking star, retard". That is not very informative. Ok- if it is a super bright fire ball that emits shit tons of light, WHY AND HOW can it get here to me? Thats my question. I have lots of em. Would like to hear some theories or thoughts or at least some basic logic that underpins all of the stuff I am told to just believe or else Im a retard.
They don't. A spherical source of light "points" in all directions
I think a lot of it has to do with the frequency of the light emitted. Fire is a broad spectrum vs an LED that is pretty narrow. I also find it weird how short the throw is on some LEDs.
Stars may be plasma. Look at the plasma theory.
will do! thanks!
Ok- thank you for actually trying to answer my question. I will look into that.
In the case of headlights, you are seeing light reflected and scattered by aerosol particles in the air back into your eyes, and that is a small fraction of the light that goes forward. You, the observer and the light source, are at the same location - the car. In the case of starlight, you are looking directly at the light source.
The intensity of visible light emitted by the Sun at the location of the Earth is about 1000 W/m^2 on a clear sunny day. The distance Sun-Earth is about 1.5x10^11 m. Thus the power of visible light emitted by the Sun is around 2.8x10^26 W. Compare this to a 100-W lightbulb of which only 5% ends up as optical power.
Stars are light stuck on the firmament. I've read that they are our heritage, our families, where we go when we die. Cool huh?
wouldnt there be lots more stars if they were all dead souls?
I imagine there would only be so much room on the firmament.... maybe im missing smething?
More souls, brighter the star. Just some crazy shit I read once.
I mean, that makes perfect sense to a 5 year old, but you're better than this.
I love you to jp. Just bored and throwing it out there for the curious.
He didn't say he thought it up, did he?
Your question is easily answered by many of the other posts in this thread but here is a question.
Given the inverse square law, how bright must it be at the surface of the moon given it is pretty bright from here on Earth?
space is fake and gay, thats why
Seems that way for sure... why no pictures of space? We are told we go there all the damn time... but not a single picture? very fucking fake and gay.
Pretty good troll
Stars are visible, they don't illuminate Earth though. Much like a person's car way out in the distance whose headlights are visible and shining right at you but they don't illuminate you or your car.
Also a star is probably millions or billions of times brighter than headlights.
There's no atmosphere in the vacuum of space to diffuse the light on its path from said star to our atmosphere, so said star light only begins to diffuse once it reaches our atmosphere.
Also bear in mind that light only travels at light speed (bit of a "duh" statement I suppose), so the star light we see is many, many, many years old by the time it reaches us. Almost like staring into the past if you want to think of it that way.