Where are the stars?

Question

I'm 60 so I watched as John Glen took off for space, I watch as the first men walked on the moon. I have seen numerous picture from space that were taken by the hubble telelscope. In everone of these picture, there are no stars. Why. If we see them from earth, shoulden't we see them from the moon or other parts of sapce? This has confused me since I first saw any picture from sapce. Even the pictures from Mars...no stars...any answers?

Yes, I am really 60. My doctor is in his 40, bald and jealous. He said I look younger than he does. Not wanting to sound conceited, I am told that by everyone. I have never died my hair either.

Yes, I am really 60. My doctor is in his 40, bald and jealous. He said I look younger than he does. Not wanting to sound conceited, I am told that by everyone. I have never died my hair either.

Yes I am really 60. My doctor is in his 40, bald and is jealous. He said i look younger than he does. Not wanting to sound conceited, I am told this by everyone. I have never dyed my hair either.

I tried deleting the additional details but it would not. It printed 3 times. Why

I don;t understand, If you people know this about camaras, then why doesn't NASA do something about it?

Answer 1

The austronauts couldn't see the stars either. Out in space there is the brightness of the sun and the large darkness of space. Your eyes cannot see both at the same time (for your pupils cannot be open wide or closed shut at the same time). So the brightness overtook the darkness. It's the same thing if you stood under a streetlight and looked straight up to the sky to see if you could see stars.

The stars were blocked out due to the light pollution of the sun. It's the same in the city. Look up to the sky in a huge city (or small city near the center of town) and you won't be able to see the stars even on the clearest of nights. That is due to light pollution. Also, if you were really hard core you could set up a large spot light in a desert and take pictures of a person there with the sky in the background. Chances are that you won't be able to see any stars in the background because of the bright light from the spot light (of course you'll never get a light as bright as the sun - so try to find the brightest lightbulb you can if you do this).

I hope that helped.

Answer 2

My students often ask me this same question. Since several of them are also involved in photojournalism, this is easy to answer. You need to understand that there are several types of photographic film available on the market, and that there are also different film speeds. When those pictures were taken (I also watched the news casts) we did not have digital cameras, so all of the cameras were using film to capture images. The film speed gives you an indication of how long the aperature of the camera stays open to allow the light to expose the film. I remember using a Nikon SLR in college and having to set all of the dials depending on the conditions of the picture and film. Now we just point and click and have forgotten what the camera does automatically for us. In space the are very few atoms or molecules to reflect all of the light from stars and the sun. That is why it looks black to us, but when we look at the different temperatures between light and dark on the moon we know the light is transferring a lot of energy. The soil of the moon is very reflective itself. If Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren wanted to take a photo, they would need a film with a fast shutter speed so the corrrect amount of light exposed the film. Too much light and the film is overexposed. The simple answer is that the shutter speed of the film was too fast to pick up the faint light of the stars in the background. If the speed were slower to pick up the star light, the foreground light would overexpose the film and we still would not see the stars. We get the best pictures of stars from Earth when we are out away from any cities at night. That is because the city light would overexpose the film and overpower any starlight that may have been present. It is also why we don't see stars during the daytime - even though we all know the stars must still be out there.

Answer 3

Cameras are taking pictures of very bright objects: Moon surface, shiny spaceships, astronauts white equipment. The camera has to regulate the amount of light it gathers from the main object, so objects that are more faint (stars) will not show up in the picture. The sensibility of the film is not able to show at the same time very shiny objects and very dim objects. If you want to take a picture with the stars showing, all other objects will be overexposed and will appear just white with no details.

Astronauts can't see the stars with their space suits on, not because of the Sun, but because they have very strong filters on their space helmets to protect them from sunlight. It would be like watching the stars with dark sunglasses.

Answer 4

They should be there. I'm sure the picture is focused up close so you dont' see the stars which are millions of light years away. I've seen pictures of planets from the Hubble telescope and I can see the stars.

Answer 5

the stars are very dim compared to any astronaut on the moon or orbiting the earth so they do not show in the image. the astronaut or spacecraft is so bright that only a short exposure time is needed to make the photograph. a much longer exposure time is needed to photograph stars. ask someone who knows about photography to explain it to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography

are you really sixty?

Answer 6

Clever observation and good question.
Most photos are made in a split second.
To see stars you need an exposure of at least a couple of seconds.
Try it with your own camera.
Good luck.

Answer 7

you can't see stars in some space shots for the same reasons that you can't see stars on earth in the daytime. Outer space is potentially brighter than any earth environment.

Answer 8

mostly light pullition but i the moon i think its becuase the moon is refracting the sun light so it blocks out the stars

Answer 9

They are there....perhaps you need spectacles.