Visual Perspective

[RedGriffinDiver]

When I look at a picture on APOD I visualize myself in a spaceship looking out the window/viewscreen. Would there be a way to notate the pictures with something like this view would be XX light-years/million miles from the center of the object? Or do I need to figure it out based on the description of this picture shows a field of X light-years across?

[Chris Peterson]

When I look at a picture on APOD I visualize myself in a spaceship looking out the window/viewscreen. Would there be a way to notate the pictures with something like this view would be XX light-years/million miles from the center of the object? Or do I need to figure it out based on the description of this picture shows a field of X light-years across?

Consider that the equivalent distance is dependent upon your display device and how far you are from it. You are much "closer" if you're sitting in front of a 30-inch monitor than if you're viewing the APOD on a phone in your lap.

Sometimes the angular size of an object is given in the APOD caption. Otherwise you can usually look it up. You can use that to calculate the apparent distance. If an object subtends 1° and is 1000 ly distant, and you estimate that it fills 30° of your field when you view the image, that means you are effectively 30 times closer, or its apparent distance is 1000 ly / 30 = 33 ly.