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How is it dark in space if the sun is so bright?.Does it have something to do with the air or lack of?

2006-10-10 01:13:25 · 10 answers · asked by Aquarius 1 in Science & Mathematics Astronomy & Space

10 answers

The simple answer is that the sun DOES shine in space. You just can't see it.

Think about how your eyes work. A photon leaves the sun, travels through space, and then hits the back of your eye. Unless the photon hits the back of your eye, you are incapable of telling if a photon is there.

In space there are huge numbers of photons zinging around all the time. You just can't see them because your eye isn't there.

Another good way to picture this is to turn on a flashlight. You KNOW the light is coming from the bulb and filling a cone of air until some object gets in the way. But you don't see a lit cone of air... you only see the circle that the light makes on the object that got in the way. If you're in a dusty room or you have a spray bottle, you can use dust or water as the object that gets in the way, and thus see where the boundaries of the cone are, but you NEVER see the cone.

So the sun DOES shine in space just fine. You just can't see shining. Hope that helps!

2006-10-11 12:43:53 · answer #1 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 0 0

the uncomplicated answer is that the sunlight DOES shine in area. you merely will no longer be able to work out it. think of roughly how your eyes artwork. A photon leaves the sunlight, travels through area, and then hits the decrease back of your eye. except the photon hits the decrease back of your eye, you're incapable of telling if a photon is there. In area there are extensive numbers of photons zinging around constantly. you merely will no longer be able to work out them because of the fact your eye isn't there. yet another solid thank you to photograph it fairly is to instruct on a flashlight. you comprehend the gentle is coming from the bulb and filling a cone of air till some merchandise gets interior the way. yet you do no longer see a lit cone of air... you purely see the circle that the gentle makes on the item that have been given interior the way. once you're in a dusty room or you have a twig bottle, you ought to use dirt or water because of the fact the item that gets interior the way, and for this reason see the place the limitations of the cone are, yet you in no way see the cone. an analogous element is going in case you had a replicate in area. you may merely be giving the photons zinging around a course to certainly get on your eye. it fairly is what the moon does! gentle from the sunlight bounces off its floor and gets to you in the process the nighttime. A smaller replicate might artwork merely besides. And, as I point out earlier, in case you have been in area you won't even desire the replicate - you may look in the present day on the sunlight merely high-quality (nonetheless i would not propose observing the sunlight, even in the international!). So the sunlight DOES shine in area merely high-quality. you merely will no longer be able to work out all the interest it incredibly is occurring. desire that helps!

2016-12-13 05:36:18 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

Actually, the Sun does shine in space. It just doesn't seem apparent because there is nothing for it to reflect off of. If you look at the reflected sunlight on the face of the moon you can see this.

2006-10-10 01:25:34 · answer #3 · answered by Stephen J 3 · 0 0

The Sun does shine in space but since there is nothing for it to reflect off of it doesn't seem like it. We know it shines since it reflects off the moon.

2006-10-10 01:52:29 · answer #4 · answered by Krissy 6 · 0 0

You only observe light from objects reflecting the light of the sun. As space has (mostly) nothing in it, there is nothing to reflect the sun's light and so it appears dark.

The reason you see things like planets and the moon is because the sun's light is shining on them.

2006-10-10 01:16:51 · answer #5 · answered by Stuart T 3 · 1 0

For one, there is a lot of empty space in space, so there isn't a lot for light to reflect off of it. Because of that, a person floating in a random section of space isn't going to have a lot of light deflected to her unless she was looking directly at the sun.

However, there are so many stars in the sky that you might imagine that the sky should be flooded with light from all of them combined. That is, if there are stars in every direction in space, you'd expect to receive their light regardless of the direction that you look. This is not the case because the power density of the light emitted from these stars decreases with distance. In fact, the power is inversely proportional to the square of distance. Picture a balloon inflating. The skin of this balloon might be thought of as light as it rushes away from a spherical sun. As the balloon gets larger and larger, the skin gets thinner and thinner and so a square inch section of skin consists of less and less rubber.

Because of this, most of the light from distant suns gets attenuated too far to be noticed by your eye. This is especially true in the daytime because the light from our sun is so close that much so much power hits your eye that there is no way to see the small dots of light from other suns. At night, the only light you end up seeing from these other stars is the most direct light from them, and even that shows up very dim.

2006-10-10 02:24:51 · answer #6 · answered by Ted 4 · 0 0

Light requires a reflective surface to be seen and illuminate surrounding areas. The only other way is to look directly at the light source.

2006-10-10 01:16:47 · answer #7 · answered by Letsee 4 · 1 0

Ted, I'm tired of taking your balloon, think of a better, correct analogy, like say the cone.

2006-10-12 04:18:33 · answer #8 · answered by nancy_from_neptune 1 · 0 0

IT DOES. WHY DON'T YOU TAKE ATRIP TO MOON TO OBSERVE IT CLOSELY. HEY!TELL ME ABOUT IT LATER.

2006-10-10 02:53:24 · answer #9 · answered by sana 2 · 0 0

bOTH ANSWERS R CORRECT

2006-10-10 01:23:53 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0 1

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