Stars Can't Be Seen from Outer Space

originally posted by: cooperton

originally posted by: onebigmonkey
A collection of Apollo astronaut quotes about stars:

onebigmonkey.comoj.com...

Good find, maybe they were still in the earth's atmosphere when they were saying this? Neil was on the moon when he said there were no stars, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Nope, they were either in earth orbit, cislunar space, on the moon, or in lunar orbit.

Not being able to see stars on the moon has much more to do with being in bright sunlight, with a bright earth in the sky, and on a bright reflective surface. Remove those obstacles and you will see them just fine.

I didn't find the page, I wrote it

The sun does not actually light the earth, the interaction of the particles of the sun cause the sky to illuminate which then lights the earth. Now it probably would be the same with the stars, their light beams could hit the earths atmosphere and cause it to show a spot. It kind of makes you wonder how much we are not seeing.

originally posted by: tothetenthpower
a reply to: cooperton

then the stars would become visible when it became "night" on the moon,

They would have had to venture to the far side of the moon for that no? The side we see, is always illuminated by the Sun, there is no "night", which is why the sun actually illuminates the sky at night. Since it's reflecting Sun's light.

I don't believe any of the Apollo missions had astronauts on the dark side of the moon. Something about it being too damn cold or something.

~Tenth

Yeah I pondered that same question, but realized the dark side of the moon should not be confused with the part we can never see. For example, if the moon were in its crescent phase as observed from earth, Neil could have been on the moon, facing the earth, at "night" on the moon in the dark non-lit part of the crescent moon.

originally posted by: onebigmonkey

originally posted by: cooperton

originally posted by: onebigmonkey
A collection of Apollo astronaut quotes about stars:

onebigmonkey.comoj.com...

Good find, maybe they were still in the earth's atmosphere when they were saying this? Neil was on the moon when he said there were no stars, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Nope, they were either in earth orbit, cislunar space, on the moon, or in lunar orbit.

Not being able to see stars on the moon has much more to do with being in bright sunlight, with a bright earth in the sky, and on a bright reflective surface. Remove those obstacles and you will see them just fine.

I didn't find the page, I wrote it

I don't know what to think anymore

a reply to: cooperton

This is a matter of contrast.

The reason that astronauts do not see stars when they are in space, is because of the relative contrast in light levels, between the light from the sun, and the reflected light which bounces off the Earth and Moon. The human eye simply cannot reconcile faint, distant light, with the eye scouring intensity of the much closer star at the centre of our solar system, or even the somewhat less brain melting reflection of light from the Earth, the Moon, and so on. The largest and most intense light sources, therefore, are all that are visible.

Any thoughts?

Yes. I think your eye, like any camera, has only so much dynamic range, and that's all you get.

Like most cameras, your eye has several mechanisms for moving the center of your dynamic range. One is the iris. When it's very bright outside, say, when you're standing on gray Lunar soil in Lunar day, everything is so bright your iris closes, to adjust the center of your dynamic range toward the bright end.

When this happens, you will no longer be able to see the stars, because they're off the bottom of your range. It's like trying to hear a pin drop. On a hard surface in a quiet room, you can. During a Mastodon concert, not so much, even though the pin makes the same amount of noise. Because your ears adjust the same way your eyes do.

eta: BTW, you DO know they navigate in space by the stars, right? Using something like a sextant? linky!

originally posted by: 0bserver1
I think Neil just slipped tongue there.. He also looks he has to improvise on that question ...

Did you even watch the Youtube video? He clearly says he saw no stars with his eye on the Moon OR in Cis-Lunar space. A slip of the tongue would be 'we didn't see any Movie Stars on the Moon', LOL.

Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to (allegedly) travel in outer space in 1961, commented that the stars seen from his Vostok spacecraft were "bright and clear cut.

Somebody's lying.

originally posted by: tothetenthpower
They would have had to venture to the far side of the moon for that no? The side we see, is always illuminated by the Sun, there is no "night", which is why the sun actually illuminates the sky at night. Since it's reflecting Sun's light.

No, no, there's not a "dark side" of the moon in a permanent sense. Every part of the Moon goes through day/night cycles. It is true that only one side points toward the Earth.

NASA never did night-time missions because you wouldn't be able to see what you were doing.

Some Rosetta pictures of comet 67P/Churyumov have plenty of stars??

A lensing effect would also explain how we can see star light over such a vast distance. Why is it that starlight appears as a point and not diffused over distance like a flashlight would? There is a theory that starlight is not actually old at all. It may be that the vacuum of space permits instantaneous travel of light. The particles are then reconstituted using the Earths lensing effect. In essence, there are no light years.

originally posted by: tothetenthpower


which is why the sun actually illuminates the sky at night. Since it's reflecting Sun's light.
~Tenth

You mean the Moon don'tcha

a reply to: Bedlam

Ah I see, that makes more sense. Thank you.

~Tenth

originally posted by: tothetenthpower
a reply to: cooperton

then the stars would become visible when it became "night" on the moon,

They would have had to venture to the far side of the moon for that no? The side we see, is always illuminated by the Sun, there is no "night", which is why the sun actually illuminates the sky at night. Since it's reflecting Sun's light.

I don't believe any of the Apollo missions had astronauts on the dark side of the moon. Something about it being too damn cold or something.

~Tenth

What are you drivelling on about. Ever seen a crescent moon ? That's when PART of the side facing us is illuminated by the sun and the rest of the illumination is on the side we never see. DUH! Honestly I give up ATS. the IQ level round here has plummeted to single figures.......................

A reflecrion of satelites?
Satelites in earth orbit would explain why theyre seen from ground and no NASA images from ISS for example.
Is therr no evidence of stars seen from ground on Mars from rovers etc?

There are some satellite companies have constellations in their logos. The dipper is one.

originally posted by: irgust
a reply to: cooperton
If the stars can't be seen in space how does the hubble telescope take pictures of stars?

Can anybody answer this??? I'm very curious now. How do the camera lenses capture star light if "stars can't be seen in space"??

originally posted by: Oannes
A lensing effect would also explain how we can see star light over such a vast distance. Why is it that starlight appears as a point and not diffused over distance like a flashlight would?

There is no lensing effect. It DOES diffuse, in that it spreads in all directions. What you see here are the few photons that made the distance and went through that tiny hole in your eye. What an aim, eh?

originally posted by: rickymouse
The sun does not actually light the earth, the interaction of the particles of the sun cause the sky to illuminate which then lights the earth.

Not at all. The Sun emits light, it travels through space, through the atmosphere (albeit losing some of the higher frequencies to dissipation effects) and the hits the ground. The air scatters the light. Also slows it a bit. But the sky's not "illuminating", other than you getting Rayleigh scattering.

originally posted by: tothetenthpower
a reply to: Bedlam

Ah I see, that makes more sense. Thank you.

~Tenth

Yeah, when it's new moon here, it's high noon as it were on the far side of the Moon. When it's full moon here, it's midnight other side.

originally posted by: FamCore

originally posted by: irgust
a reply to: cooperton
If the stars can't be seen in space how does the hubble telescope take pictures of stars?

Can anybody answer this??? I'm very curious now. How do the camera lenses capture star light if "stars can't be seen in space"??

Of course you can see stars in space. That's what celestial imaging scopes see. Or navigational sextant scopes. The Sun is a star, as has been brought up, no problems seeing that at all.

Agree with Truebrit and Bedlam, it is a matter of focus. If there was no sun light present, the stars would be seen clearly. The best option for this on the moon would be when the moon is hidden behind earth which is blocking the light from the sun and at the same time is not receiving any light from the sun when facing moon.



So in this case looking from the moon(if facing to earth) you can`t see anything in the vicinity but the shape of the earth which is caused by light reflected from it(still just edges). Even better if not facing earth. Less light, better view so your eye can focus on different sources of light out there.

Hope this helps...

Is this place filled with a bunch of 8 year olds?

Truebrit said it right.

Stand in the bright sun shine for a few minutes.
Then run down the stairs into your dark basement.
You can't see squat for a few minutes.
The eye can't faint points of light when flooded with bright ambient light.