Why are some of the stars in the night sky brighter when you’re not looking directly at them?
In: Biology
There are two types of light-sensing cells in your eyes. The ones in the center of your vision have good color sensitivity and detail, but are not great in low light. The ones in your peripheral vision are bad at color and detail, but much more sensitive to low light. (Gotta see that tiger sneaking up on you in the dark.)
So when you look slightly away, you see the stars with your more sensitive peripheral vision.
It actually happens for all stars (all everything you look at) but it’s most noticeable with stars right on the boundary of being visible, since they seem to almost disappear when looked at, but are obvious in peripheral vision.
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