<p>Even the Hubble telescope cannot "see" many of the stars and galaxies in the dark parts of space at first glance.  If they fix the Hubble on a dark patch for several days, the photons from extremely distant stars and galaxies will fill the image.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Deep_Field" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Deep_Field</a></p>

<p>Also, the Earth's atmosphere will obscure and distort many stars that are visible from low Earth orbit and beyond.  Astronauts can see many more stars than we can.</p>

<p>Regarding your question, "how many are we missing", that's a tough one to answer. It depends on what level of detail you are talking about. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-23T16:26:38.250Z
2014-10-23T16:26:38.250Z
Scottie
<p>I am not quite sure if i understand your question correctly. But I think the answer to your question is:</p>

<p>It depends on where you stand and look into the sky.</p>

<p>Light pollution is the biggest issue observing anything in the sky. If you are out in the night in a big city you just see a few stars (at a clear night). The further you are away from any light source the more stars you are able to see with eyes only. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-23T16:00:50.237Z
2014-10-23T16:00:50.237Z
solid
<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_eye" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>,</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Theoretically, in a typical dark sky, the dark adapted human eye would see the about 5,600 stars brighter than +6m while in perfect dark sky conditions about 45,000 stars brighter than +8m might be visible.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>(By the way, "+6m" means stars of apparent magnitude 6 or brighter.)</p>

<p>Under the best conditions, a person could see 45,000 stars. That's quite a lot. However, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way" rel="nofollow">the Milky Way</a> alone has over <em>200 billion</em> stars (and that's a low estimate!). So we can only see a small fraction of the total stars in the Milky Way. Earth-based optical telescopes can do a lot better, though.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-24T14:37:38.927Z
I wonder if they are counting distant galaxies as "stars"?
Scottie
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-24T14:54:45.343Z
@Scottie I don't know. Most galaxies are pretty faint though, and it can be hard to see them.
HDE 226868
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-23T22:17:22.983Z
2014-10-23T22:17:22.983Z
HDE 226868
<p>When I look at the night sky I seem to resolve points which are local stars and milkiness at further regions of the galaxy. But what is between? I think there must be a lot of stars which are too faint to see individually, and yet not perceivable as part of a dense region of stars. Is this at all accurate? Does anybody know how much we fail to see when we think we are looking?</p>

<star-gazing><naked-eye>
Does naked eye miss a lot between local stars and distant milkiness?
Bob Terrell
# Does naked eye miss a lot between local stars and distant milkiness?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-10-23)

When I look at the night sky I seem to resolve points which are local stars and milkiness at further regions of the galaxy. But what is between? I think there must be a lot of stars which are too faint to see individually, and yet not perceivable as part of a dense region of stars. Is this at all accurate? Does anybody know how much we fail to see when we think we are looking?

**Tags:** star-gazing, naked-eye


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-10-23. Score: 1

Even the Hubble telescope cannot "see" many of the stars and galaxies in the dark parts of space at first glance. If they fix the Hubble on a dark patch for several days, the photons from extremely distant stars and galaxies will fill the image.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Deep_Field>

Also, the Earth's atmosphere will obscure and distort many stars that are visible from low Earth orbit and beyond. Astronauts can see many more stars than we can.

Regarding your question, "how many are we missing", that's a tough one to answer. It depends on what level of detail you are talking about.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2014-10-23. Score: 0

I am not quite sure if i understand your question correctly. But I think the answer to your question is:

It depends on where you stand and look into the sky.

Light pollution is the biggest issue observing anything in the sky. If you are out in the night in a big city you just see a few stars (at a clear night). The further you are away from any light source the more stars you are able to see with eyes only.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2014-10-23. Score: 0

According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_eye),

> Theoretically, in a typical dark sky, the dark adapted human eye would see the about 5,600 stars brighter than +6m while in perfect dark sky conditions about 45,000 stars brighter than +8m might be visible.

(By the way, "+6m" means stars of apparent magnitude 6 or brighter.)

Under the best conditions, a person could see 45,000 stars. That's quite a lot. However, [the Milky Way](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way) alone has over *200 billion* stars (and that's a low estimate!). So we can only see a small fraction of the total stars in the Milky Way. Earth-based optical telescopes can do a lot better, though.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I wonder if they are counting distant galaxies as "stars"?  
> **username_3**: @username_1 I don't know. Most galaxies are pretty faint though, and it can be hard to see them.  

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