It has to do with the aperture of the collection system and really the surface area catching the photons, as well as getting outside the atmosphere. The HST has bee very successful since it is out in space, and not on the ground. The number of photons reaching the observer is a function of luminosity (number/rate of photons moving per solid angle of space and the distance they have to travel).BosonJaw said:A recent (dumb) question that came to mind. Perhaps I posted in the wrong place recently. Given the brightest known star. What is the maximum distance we would be able to see it given current technology. Is there a rule or something? Say the divergence of photons vs initial brightness (magnitude)? Thanks guys!
The brightest known star, Sirius, is approximately 8.6 light years away from Earth.
Sirius is the brightest known star because it is a relatively large and hot star in our galaxy. It also appears bright to us because it is relatively close to Earth compared to other stars.
Yes, there are many other bright stars that can be seen from Earth, such as Canopus, Alpha Centauri, and Arcturus. However, Sirius is the brightest known star to us.
The brightness of stars is measured using a scale called apparent magnitude, where lower numbers indicate brighter stars. This scale takes into account the distance of the star from Earth and the star's intrinsic brightness.
There is no definite limit to how far we can see the brightest known star, as it depends on the sensitivity of our telescopes and our ability to detect faint objects. However, due to the immense size of the universe, it is unlikely that we will ever be able to see the brightest known star from extremely far distances.