2100
Enlightened
I do agree that the brighter the light the further you see but I think you are missing the point. The point here is that our human visual perception is very limited. Seeing and making out a form is one thing, but being able to discern details of what you see is another. We can see a huge tree at a distance of 1km but other than a huge tree standing there, can we discern more details than that? No. I am vey certain about that since my eyesight is perfect. If we could all discern minute details pass the 8km range as what you have stated, we would all be bionic men and women and there is no need for visual enhancement optics like a telescope, or binocular. Maybe you can, but I definitely can't make out fine details pass 8km as what you have said.
Bro, I am *definitely* not missing the point. The guys in the military/coast guard do use optical aids for their searchlights to ID something further, but they do ID stuff without zoom to have "a wider FOV". Actually I am somewhat into astronomy as well so i am aware what is "seeable" and what is not. Some telescopes you'd want a narrower FOV ie more magnification, and for some bigger objects like Deep Space Objects you'd want a wide FOV. Do you know that some DSOs about the size of the moon and some bigger? You actually use a bino to view. Anyway I have already edited my message up there to reflect it before I got to see your reply.