<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia's page</a> on the Bortle Scale claims the full moon at a dark site is roughly equivalent to the light pollution at the urban/suburban transition which means you could see stars with an naked-eye limiting magnitude (NELM) 4.6-5.0</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-26T16:33:48.487Z
2022-08-26T16:33:48.487Z
Kit
<p>Assuming the viewer is far from any light pollution, it is a cloudless night, and humidity is very low.  What is the faintest apparent magnitude of stars visible to the naked eye during a full moon (at zenith) if the viewer is looking towards the horizon?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-26T00:47:36.193Z
Shouldn't you be asking about the faintest stars that are visible, rather than the brightest?
D. Halsey
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-26T14:42:56.570Z
So what you're really asking, I think, is  what's the faintest visible star visible on the horizon at  midnight (sun  opposed) when the moon is not in the field of view.  A nice clean, dry, cold atmosphere means there's almost no scatter from the moon's output into your FOV.
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-26T16:08:59.053Z
Would there be no scatter of the moon's output reaching the FOV I'm asking about?  I didn't know whether there would be or not.
Bob516
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-26T16:52:32.150Z
[Related question](/q/10322)
Mike G
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-28T22:47:27.500Z
What do you mean by magnitude?
Inertial Ignorance
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-28T23:46:54.943Z
@MikeG The link in the answer appears to be dead.
Bob516
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-28T23:49:21.717Z
@InertialIgnorance Magnitude is a unitless measure of the brightness of astronomical objects.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitude_(astronomy)
Bob516
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-28T08:43:49.283Z
Duplicate https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/10322/around-what-apparent-magnitude-can-the-naked-eye-observe-an-object-during-full-m
ProfRob
<the-moon><apparent-magnitude><naked-eye>
What is the apparent magnitude of the faintest stars visible during a full moon?
Bob516
# What is the apparent magnitude of the faintest stars visible during a full moon?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-25)

Assuming the viewer is far from any light pollution, it is a cloudless night, and humidity is very low. What is the faintest apparent magnitude of stars visible to the naked eye during a full moon (at zenith) if the viewer is looking towards the horizon?

**Tags:** the-moon, apparent-magnitude, naked-eye

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Shouldn't you be asking about the faintest stars that are visible, rather than the brightest?  
> **username_2**: So what you're really asking, I think, is  what's the faintest visible star visible on the horizon at  midnight (sun  opposed) when the moon is not in the field of view.  A nice clean, dry, cold atmosphere means there's almost no scatter from the moon's output into your FOV.  
> **username_0**: Would there be no scatter of the moon's output reaching the FOV I'm asking about?  I didn't know whether there would be or not.  
> **username_3**: [Related question](/q/10322)  
> **username_4**: What do you mean by magnitude?  
> **username_0**: @MikeG The link in the answer appears to be dead.  
> **username_0**: @InertialIgnorance Magnitude is a unitless measure of the brightness of astronomical objects.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitude_(astronomy)  
> **username_5**: Duplicate https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/10322/around-what-apparent-magnitude-can-the-naked-eye-observe-an-object-during-full-m  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2022-08-26. Score: 2

[Wikipedia's page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale) on the Bortle Scale claims the full moon at a dark site is roughly equivalent to the light pollution at the urban/suburban transition which means you could see stars with an naked-eye limiting magnitude (NELM) 4.6-5.0


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