Despite sharing a similar integrated visual magnitude ($ ext{ extasciitilde}4.0$) with the Orion Nebula ($ ext{M}42$), why is NGC 7000 visually much fainter?
Answer
NGC 7000 is spread over a much larger angular extent
NGC 7000 covers an area roughly four times larger than $ ext{M}42$, meaning the same total amount of light is distributed over a much greater area, drastically reducing surface brightness.
Related Questions
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