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..........