The ability to capture both stars and a daylit scene using the same sensor is pretty hardcore. But yes, there's some fancy processing layer which is far harder to replicate than the optics. Last time I tried if I point a generic (not specialised for the task) camera at the night sky I get blackness but my eyes see stars.

On the optics, I'd say the human eye is specialized, but not on the whole outstanding. Fantastic dynamic range, lousy spatial and time resolution, a very good tracking mount. It's just compromised on the things (resolution) that can be filled in with fast scanning over a scene + post-processing.