How was it possible to observe Kepler’s Supernova with a naked eye in 1604?
In: Planetary Science
How is it possible to see the moon with the naked eye even during the day? Or just a lamp on a car. The simple explanation is you can see a light source is the amount of light that reaches you is enough and more than what is around it you can see it.
Supernovas emit an enormous amount of light. A Type Ia supernova like Kepler’s Supernova has all the same peak brightness, we use it to determine distance to other galaxies. If you observed it at the same distance as you observe the sun it would be 5 billion times brighter.
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Object size is not relevant, no star except for the sun is large enough so you resolve it to more than a single spot. Even lamps we have get quickly to small to resolve but we can still see them.
This can be exploited for military night driving. Look at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_light#/media/File:M38_Rear_Blackout_Light.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackout_light#/media/File:M38_Rear_Blackout_Light.jpg) with four red light at the bottom, if you can resolve all four you are to close to the vehicles in front. If you can see them as two light the distance is right but if you see them as one you are to far.
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