Well yeah, but I mean has there been or could there be a time where someone actively looking at the sky sees a new star appear before their eyes and it wasn’t a super nova of a star dying or a newly formed star relatively nearby? IE the star has been there longer than Earth existed, but it is so far away it took until today to finally arrive where we could see it.
I know it has limited speed, but does it have a limited range before it would just always be invisible beyond a certain range based on size and luminosity, like a flashlight? I am ptetty sure atmosphere has something to do with that, but not 100% certain if light could travel in a vaccum forever.
Okay I will try going through this piece by piece:
has there been or could there be a time where someone actively looking at the sky sees a new star appear before their eyes
- The probability to experience a new star with naked eyes or even a regular telescope is very low. You will have to know the exact location where you would like to look into the sky and perhaps the timing too.
- As @Bjorn says we have observatories working 24/7 around the globe and new stars are always popping up.
does it have a limited range before it would just always be invisible beyond a certain range based on size and luminosity, like a flashlight?
- Photons can travel the vacuum forever. Flashlight has limited range only due to photons getting diffused or barricaded by some other molecules present in their path.
- However, we know space is not exactly pure vacuum and that means signals we receive from the stars are still going to be inaccurate.
We know of old supernovae because ancient astronomers catalogued them as new stars (nova means new). Maybe they also managed to find new stars.
The new Vera C. Rubin Observatory should help us with finding new stars and other objects. It will scan the whole southern night sky in three days, marking all changes when it gets to the same patch of sky again.
If sharks have a culture they might have recorded the appearance of Polaris, the north star. Sharks have been longer on earth than Polaris has existed.
Yes, it has already happened. When you look.up the sky, you are pretty much looking at ghosts. Due to the speed of light being finite.
Naw, most of the stars you can see in the sky are close enough that’s probably not true.
Using a telescope, that’s a different story.
Well yeah, but I mean has there been or could there be a time where someone actively looking at the sky sees a new star appear before their eyes and it wasn’t a super nova of a star dying or a newly formed star relatively nearby? IE the star has been there longer than Earth existed, but it is so far away it took until today to finally arrive where we could see it.
I know it has limited speed, but does it have a limited range before it would just always be invisible beyond a certain range based on size and luminosity, like a flashlight? I am ptetty sure atmosphere has something to do with that, but not 100% certain if light could travel in a vaccum forever.
Disclaimer: This is not my field of expertise
Okay I will try going through this piece by piece:
- However, we know space is not exactly pure vacuum and that means signals we receive from the stars are still going to be inaccurate.
Since our discussion was mostly on eyes, I found this article for you, hopefully this satisfies your curiosity. :) https://www.johncbarentine.com/astronomical-visibility.html
We know of old supernovae because ancient astronomers catalogued them as new stars (nova means new). Maybe they also managed to find new stars.
The new Vera C. Rubin Observatory should help us with finding new stars and other objects. It will scan the whole southern night sky in three days, marking all changes when it gets to the same patch of sky again.
If sharks have a culture they might have recorded the appearance of Polaris, the north star. Sharks have been longer on earth than Polaris has existed.