this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2024
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[–] [email protected] 153 points 1 month ago (8 children)

Amateur. In a dark location, on a clear night, I can see the Andromeda Galaxy, 2.3 million light years away.

[–] [email protected] 76 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Oh yeah, well I can see your mom. 2.3 million light years away. Because she's fat.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (6 children)
[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 month ago (2 children)

She's so fat that I'm genuinely concerned for her health.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Shes so fat im concerned for the higgs fields' health

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

She’s so fat I can see what’s behind her

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I suppose we can calculate a minimum, if we look up the smallest angle of resolution for human eyes, and approximate her as spherical.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Just fat enough 😋

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

She's so fat that we're worried her and the sun will form a binary star system.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

You can't see my mom, she's dead.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago

She's 2.3 million light years away. We're seeing her in the past.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Of course she's dead, she's in space...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Fuckin' got them! Nice.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Triangulum Galaxy is a smidge farther away (~2.7Mly) and also naked eye visible with the right sky conditions and good eyes.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But since the sun is 93 millions miles away it's further because the number is bigger

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Smh you say on a dark place but then you say light years. If the whole year is light then how do you expect anyone to see if it has to be dark?

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Must be hard to can the sun. Shit’s hot and really big.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Neptune: tf are you talking about

The Oort Cloud: lolwut

Interstellar medium: fuck me, it’s cold

Sagittarius A*: (chuckles softly)

Andromeda Galaxy: tf is a sun

Laniakea Supercluster: yo is that the Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall?? What up, homie!

Universe: gotta go fast

Can:

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Me who can see Polaris 433 light years away.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

V762 Cassiopeiae: am I a joke to you?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I can the universe 40b light-years

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Oh yeah? Well I can see colors!

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 month ago (1 children)

who can the sun 93 million miles away

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I can the sun 93 million miles away

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago

Look at the sun for a while and you won't see anything ever anymore.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Everest can be seen 200 miles away on a clear day

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

It's 90 miles from Seattle to Mount Ranier and it absolutely dominates the horizon.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Where did you learn that? Is that a real thing people are taught?

[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 month ago (6 children)

3 miles is roughly how far you can see to the horizon (before the curvature of the earth blocks your line of sight)

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/distance-to-horizon

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't want to check miles, but it's pretty on point with what I remember, which is the horizon being 5km away for a 180cm (~6ft) tall person. (3 miles is close enough to 5km)

Getting even a few meters of something under you would drastically change how far you see.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A few extra meters wouldn't be too drastic. From the top of Everest the horizon is about 300km away.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (3 children)

1.8 meters sees ~4.8km. Standing on top of a car, on someone else's shoulders, at say, 5 meters, would give you eight kilometers.

Granted, not too drastic yeah. But like, if you have a tree, and climb it, and it's, say, 15 meters. Now you can see ~14 kilometers.

I'd say going from ~5 to ~14 by climbing a tree (or a mast of a ship) is pretty significant, but not drastic, I'd agree to that, yeah.

I wonder how much it was an advantage at sea, really. Like the scout at the top of your mast would be able to see the enemy ship from very far, while the enemies would technically be able to see only the mast of the ship that the scout is on, making it much harder to spot. I'm sure someone's written about it in tedious length. An upvote to anyone who finds me such texts.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Just googled it now, and I'm seeing the "3 miles" number thrown around a lot.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/question198.htm

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

That's just weird. The question is about the eye. And the primary "answer" they give is about the geometry of our planet.

Edit: At least the real answer is somewhere further down in the text:

Theoretically, in a vacuum there's no limit to how far away your eyes could see since light rays can travel an infinite distance, McCulley says.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Light emitted farther than 46 billion light years away will never reach you. While traveling an infinite distance the universe expands faster, and light emitted not that far will get so red-shifted that it won't be visible anymore.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Flat earth proven! Boom! /s

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't think you needed a /s for that

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Poe's law would say otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

Yes, but for how long?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

Teacher: not anymore

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

tbf, looking at the sun from three miles away would be all that you could see.

Y’know, if it didn’t instantly turn you into plasma.

[–] Michal 6 points 1 month ago

To be fair, Sun is a source of light. Moon, on the other hand...

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