I’ve always thought that stars in the sky are well, stars. But I just started to wonder, that are they just other stars or can we also see planets and such with our naked eyes? Like can the star be so bright that it could reflect the light from the planet so we can see it with just our eyes? Or are they all just other stars like our sun?
In: Physics
> Like can the star be so bright that it could reflect the light from the planet so we can see it with just our eyes.
Well, the only planets that can happen with are the ones in our solar system. This is because:
* They’re close by
* Their reflected light isn’t washed out by the sun, which is on the opposite side of the Earth
Even if a star were so bright that it illuminated a planet orbiting it brightly enough to be seen with the naked eye (which, to be clear, is absolutely impossible), the star itself would be so much brighter it would wash out the planet.
We *have* directly observed exoplanets by seeing them via the reflected light from their stars. However, this was with incredibly powerful telescopes and it’s not even how we normally observe exoplanets. Only a few dozen exoplanets have been directly observed.
Latest Answers