Fact : If you fill your night adapted ( 6-7mm ) pupil with light from a telescope with any given aperture - the surface brightness of an extended object does not change, only the magnification.
The surface brightness of the Great Orion Nebula appears the same naked eye as it does in a 10 meter aperture telescope assuming appropriate magnification is chosen so that your maximum pupil is just filled by the telescope.
Its tough being human sometimes
