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Worldbuilding

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    $\begingroup$ While this is a valid answer for primitive species, the 1950 technology does allow for telescopes. Human eyesight is not good enough to see the satellites of Mars or Jupiter, but we detected those with telescopes well before that. A short-sighted race would have many good reasons to develop technology to see things afar - like enemy troops. I'd expect such a race to invent spyglasses, binoculars and telescopes far earlier than us, precisely because our sight is so good already. $\endgroup$
    – Rekesoft
    Commented Apr 16, 2019 at 10:29
  • $\begingroup$ @Rekesoft that can solve near-sightedness, but it can't solve the lack of night vision. The discovery of stars would have to wait until - well, the military would most likely use infrared cameras, so no dice here - until somebody decides they really want to take a photo at night. And I do believe that Earthlings got that tech quite a bit later than when they landed on the Moon. $\endgroup$
    – John Dvorak
    Commented Apr 16, 2019 at 11:20
  • $\begingroup$ @JohnDvorak Bad night vision and no night vision are very different things, I think. We don't use a special organ to see in the dark, it's the same eyes, and I don't think you can't completely lack night vision except by being blind. Once they build a telescope to look for enemy campfires in the dark I suppose they can spot the brightest stars or near planets also. $\endgroup$
    – Rekesoft
    Commented Apr 16, 2019 at 11:26
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    $\begingroup$ @Rekesoft as in our world, astronomical gamma-ray bursts were discovered accidentally by a military system looking for covert atomic bomb testing. $\endgroup$
    – nigel222
    Commented Apr 17, 2019 at 13:31