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Waddensky t1_j6eevak wrote

Reply to comment by daveinmd13 in What if our sun was a part of another constellation on another planet? by smilingpike31

The Sun has an absolute magnitude of 4.8. The (human) naked-eye limiting magnitude is 6.5. The Sun would be visible to the naked eye up to a distance of around 70 light-years.

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takadimi5000 t1_j6fg5wy wrote

Wow. That is a very sobering and existential thought.

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jdubbrude t1_j6fh7rf wrote

Can we detect stars that are more than 70 light years away from us? Do telescopes make more stars visible from further away?

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grog23 t1_j6fqtc8 wrote

If they have a higher magnitude we can see them with the naked eye

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dumdodo t1_j6g04is wrote

The Orion Nebula, one of the "stars" in the constellation Orion, is 1400 light years away.

Different types of stars have different magnitudes, and can be visible at different distances, as do other objects, like nebulas.

And yes, with a telescope, you can see numerous additional stars. The Milky Way becomes a boring group of stars when viewed through a telescope, because they are no longer tightly packed.

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jdubbrude t1_j6iwqm4 wrote

I think it’s crazy that here on earth I could be dead buried for 70 million years but someone on another planet can see our planter as it is today. As if I’m still alive. Pretty wild

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