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
Absorption and scattering.
Unless your location is a perfect white, some of the light hitting it will be absorbed, reducing its intensity.
Then, unless your location is a perfect mirror perfectly angled to redirect the light to your eye, the light is scattered in every direction, further reducing its intensity.
The light *is* still illuminating your location, and if you could somehow turn off all the other lights illuminating your location, turn around to look away from the last distant street light, wait a while for your eyes to adjust, and then start flipping that streetlight on and off you should be able to see a difference (depending on just how far away the streetlight is).
But in the real world, turning off all other sources of light isn’t really possible, most of the time.
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