Stars of many types and colors are visible in this Hubble Space Telescope [ http://heritage.sts…] close-up of a starfield in the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] (LMC). Over 10,000 stars are visible [ http://heritage.sts…supplemental.html ] -- the brightest of which are giant stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Were our Sun [ http://www.seds.org…] at the distance of these stars [ http://sciastro.ast…], about 170,000 light-years, it would hardly be discernable. By contrast, only a few thousand individual stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…msblues.html ] can be seen in the night sky with the unaided eye, and many of these lie within only a few hundred light-years. So typically, the light we see from nearby stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] left during the age of our great-grand-parents, while light from LMC stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] started its journey well before the dawn [ http://www.ucmp.ber…quaternary/ple.html ] of recorded human history.
Explanation
Stars of many types and colors are visible in this Hubble Space Telescope [ http://heritage.sts…] close-up of a starfield in the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] (LMC). Over 10,000 stars are visible [ http://heritage.sts…supplemental.html ] -- the brightest of which are giant stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Were our Sun [ http://www.seds.org…] at the distance of these stars [ http://sciastro.ast…], about 170,000 light-years, it would hardly be discernable. By contrast, only a few thousand individual stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…msblues.html ] can be seen in the night sky with the unaided eye, and many of these lie within only a few hundred light-years. So typically, the light we see from nearby stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] left during the age of our great-grand-parents, while light from LMC stars [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] started its journey well before the dawn [ http://www.ucmp.ber…quaternary/ple.html ] of recorded human history.
