Re: [ATM] Extended Object Brightness

[Daniel Reinders <danreind@shaw.ca>]

Hi All,

There have been several really good and thoughtful replies to my question,
and I want to thank the posters.  In particular, Tom Krajci's was really
insightful (the bit about eye jitter was pretty smart, and seems
reasonable). David Whysong's, Stuart Hutchins, Vladimir Sacek's  and Mel
Bartel's posts were also very appreciated (and confirmed that the rule for
extended objects applies to both the sun and to nebula, kudos Mr. Ken
Hunter).  It seems the real question is not why looking through a telescope
would lead to immediate blindness, but why looking with the naked eye does
not lead to "spot" blindness just as quickly (again folks, NEVER look at the
sun with or without aids).  Combine eye jitter, eye imperfections  and
cooling (during and after) of the burned spot by the unwarmed surrounding
tissue and humours and I think we have a pretty satisfying hypothesis.

Cheers,

Dan Reinders


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