Bare with me on this as clearly there is something fundamentally wrong with my understand of light particles, distance and stars but should it not be case that sometimes you should not be able to see them.
Since light travels in a straight line (mostly), and their distance are massive and my eye is so very small the tiniest of angles from which the particle leaves the star would become ernomous variations by the time it reached me.
With that in mind, even with the insane number of particles being released, shouldn’t they become so wildly diffuse and spread out that they become to faint to detect or diffuse enough that I see the star then move 2 feet away and don’t.
I guess an anology would be that a torch works fine on a wall 10 feet away but won’t light up a spot a 100 feet away even though all the particles are travelling in a straight line.
If I can see a star from every single position on my side of the planet how isn’t that lighting up the whole sky or are a few particles enough to make my retina work and see a very small point of light.
Thanks
In: Physics
You’re already correct.
>my eye is so very small the tiniest of angles from which the particle leaves the star would become ernomous variations by the time it reached me. With that in mind, even with the insane number of particles being released…
Yep, that’s how **insane** the number of photons being released is. Even that far away, a pupil-sized target is always getting hit by at least a few.
>or are a few particles enough to make my retina work and see a very small point of light.
Yes that’s it, the other factor is just how sensitive your retina is. A single-digit number of photons entering the eye is enough to be registered and perceived.
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