unaided eye

思わず溜息をついてしまう程の美しさです。

'Brighter than a full moon': The biggest star of 2013... could be Ison - the comet of the century

A comet discovered by two Russian astronomers will be visible from Earth next year. Get ready for a once-in-a lifetime light show, says David Whitehouse.

By late November it will be visible to the unaided eye just after dark in the same direction as the setting Sun. Its tail could stretch like a searchlight into the sky above the horizon. Then it will swing rapidly around the Sun, passing within two million miles of it, far closer than any planet ever does, to emerge visible in the evening sky heading northward towards the pole star. It could be an "unaided eye" object for months. When it is close in its approach to the Sun it could become intensely brilliant but at that stage it would be difficult and dangerous to see without special instrumentation as it would be only a degree from the sun.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/brighter-than-a-full-moon-the-biggest-star-of-2013-could-be-ison--the-comet-of-the-century-8431443.html

unaided eyeについて見てみます。unaidedを辞書で調べてみると、接頭辞のun-がついていることからも推測できるように、「援助なしの、自力の」（『ジーニアス英和辞典　第３版』大修館）という意味になります。しかしながらも、辞書の意味を当てはめただけでは、意味がうまく通じません。ヘッドラインと文脈から推論すると、満月よりも明るく２０１３年で一番大きな星、とあることから、unaided eyeは、「肉眼で」と訳出することができるのではないでしょうか。

私はこのような神秘的瞬間に立ち会ったことがないので、人生で一度は拝見してみたいものです。(Shou-VR*)