Re:50 Years Ago Jocelyn Bell Discovered Pulsars
by Sharlin on Thursday November 30, 2017 @05:41AM
(#15814800)
It is a real shame that so many people don't recognize the Milky Way, by having lived their whole lives under light-polluted skies.
But yes, even an optimally dark sky isn't that colorful to a human eye. That's because human low-light vision, provided by rod cells, is almost entirely monochromatic. A camera sensor doesn't have such limitations. You do need an exposure time of several seconds at least, but first and foremost you need to get away from light pollution. No amount of exposure time is going to help you inside a large city; the sky just comes up ugly orange-gray.
To a totally dark-adapted human eye in an optimally dark location the night sky is a sight to behold.
But yes, even an optimally dark sky isn't that colorful to a human eye. That's because human low-light vision, provided by rod cells, is almost entirely monochromatic. A camera sensor doesn't have such limitations. You do need an exposure time of several seconds at least, but first and foremost you need to get away from light pollution. No amount of exposure time is going to help you inside a large city; the sky just comes up ugly orange-gray.
To a totally dark-adapted human eye in an optimally dark location the night sky is a sight to behold.