How come we can see a source of light extremely far away when the source only illuminates the area much closer to it?

1.68K views

For example, I’m sitting on my front porch which overlooks the town. Miles away I can see streetlights, signs, etc. How does the source project light to my location, yet doesn’t illuminate my location?

Holy moly friends, thanks for the awards and stuff. I didn’t think this question would spark so much interest, lol. I am thoroughly grateful for all your replies.

In: Physics

22 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Missing from this explanation so far is also a mention of just how amazing the eye is. Your retina cells can detect single individual photons. So even at great distances we can see lights shining, even if only a few of those photons make it to our eye. However there are not enough photons making it to the area to illuminate, which requires them bouncing off the surroundings, and not being absorbed.

You are viewing 1 out of 22 answers, click here to view all answers.