how come pictures taken of the satellites in space don't have any stars in the background?

Question

I've noticed that in alot of pics of space....I don't see any stars. You would think that since here on Earth you can see plenty of stars burning bright, but why in space aren't there any stars....I mean at least not in the pics. I think its a huge conspiracy by the government.

Answer 1

When you are trying to take pictures of stars the exposure of your camera must be open longer than normal in order for the camera to gather enough light to make the star visible. Sometimes the light from the sun, even though in outer space, will outshine the stars making it very hard to take pictures. Hope this helped.

Answer 2

The human eye is an amazingly adaptable light gatherer, although it has its limits. A camera is even more limited. When one part of the image is very bright and another part is very dim, the camera has to compromise, usually finding a middle exposure value that will preserve the most detail without too much glare. Unfortunately, in outer space, the contrast is so great that the dimmer items, namely stars, aren't bright enough to show in the captured image. The surface of the moon is actually rather gray, but close-up in direct sunlight, its reflectivity will wash out the distant stars. If you go to an IMAX theater, those places with the gigantic screens, and happen to catch one of those films about the shuttle or building the space station, you won't see stars there either. The foreground images are just too bright, relatively. Compare a ground-based experience with star gazing. If you live in a populated area, you're lucky to see a hundred stars. Even though the sky is "black" and there's nothing you could call "glare", there's just too much ambient light around. Your eyes can't compensate. A second problem (with digital images especially) is the apparent size of the stars. They're huge but very far away. You may notice that the vast majority of stars all look about the same size. That's because the smallest size you can resolve is determined by the spacing of "rods" and cones in your retina. If a star's apparent diameter is too small, its light may fall between the rods. If it hits the rod, it will look one rod "wide". Digital cameras also have limits. If a star is less than half a pixel "wide", it won't show. And most stars fit that parameter.

Answer 3

This is very very basic photography. Not even photography 101.

The environment is very bright around the ISS - you would probably have difficulty looking at the body of the ISS or Shuttle without protective glass.

Consequently, when taking shots, the camera lens is either stopped down or the shutter speed put on fast (or both), so as not to get the film flooded by the ambient light. That means that dim objects, like stars, will not be captured by the camera.

This very basic photography is why the oft repeated "there are no stars in the sky in the pictures from the moon", shows up all that hoax stuff as being so incredibly ignorant.

If you argue on this basis that the moon landings did not take place, then neither do the space walks around the ISS, Shuttle and Hubble telescope.

Answer 4

Try taking a picture of your friends at a night-time barbecue, and notice how there are no stars in the sky.
Its not a conspiracy (sigh), its simple optics (when you get old enough to go to high school, you'll study this in Physics).

To take a photograph of a nearby object (like the moon or spacecraft), you have to stop down the exposure time so that the foreground isn't overexposed. That means that those oh-so-tiny specks of light just aren't exposed long enough to be visible. But if you look at Hubble Telescope or other deep-sky images, you see lots of stars in the sky, simply because the images were taken to absorb as much light as they could so the stars are visible.

Ask any photographer, they can explain it to you.

Answer 5

The main reason we seldom see any stars in the pictures of satellites, like the space shuttle or ISS, is because these objects are very bright and that brightness overwhelms the pin-point brightness of the stars. Also, the camera taking the pictures has its shutter speed set at a very fast speed, so only the brightest, nearby light can expose the film.

Answer 6

Same reason you don't see stars in the lunar pics of the astronauts on the moon: contrast. You close the lens enough to limit the light coming in from the object your photographing, and you eliminate the light from the very dim objects - stars - in the background.

Answer 7

Because they are taken in full sunlight, on the daytime part of the orbit, so the camera is set to a short exposure time to record brightly lit objects. But some are taken on the night part of the orbit and with long exposures, and they do show stars. See the source for one example.

Answer 8

Light poloution blocks out the stars

Answer 9

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - they are photoshopped out in order to hype up the sexy sats in gold and silver surroundings. On-lookers are not needed.

Answer 10

You were not supposed to notice. Expect men in black to knock at your door run run now its your only chance.