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Space Forum / Astronomy / June 2006How many stars can be seen from space?
How many stars could an astronaut floating in deep space see? Assume he's in our stellar neighborhood. I guess you can figure this out if you know what fraction of visible starlight energy is lost as it travels through the atmosphere, and then imagine that our night sky is "brightened up" by that amount. Any takers? if he is in deep space, he'll see far more than we on the ground could ever see, he had no miles of air to look threw and he has to keep from looking sunward too.  SignatureThe Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond Telescope Buyers FAQ http://home.inreach.com/starlord Sidewalk Astronomy www.sidewalkastronomy.info Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net In Garden Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/ingarden Blast Off Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/starlords Astro Blog http://starlord.bloggerteam.com/ > How many stars could an astronaut floating in deep space see? Assume > he's in our stellar neighborhood. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Any takers? > How many stars could an astronaut floating in deep space see? Assume > he's in our stellar neighborhood. None if you were a apollo astronaught. In an interview, three said they saw zero stars. Seriously. > > How many stars could an astronaut floating in deep space see? Assume > > he's in our stellar neighborhood. > > None if you were a apollo astronaught. In an interview, three said they > saw zero stars. Seriously. That was because of glare from the Sun. When they are in darkness, they reported seeing a fabulous sky. I'm just wondering how (numerically) fabulous. In the very best viewing conditions from the Earth's surface we see about 8000 stars, but that number must be significantly greater with no air in the way. Llanzlan Klazmon wrote: >While they were on the moon the surface was sunlit. That may be true, but according to footage and stills, the lunar sky, at least through the lenses, was as black as coal. The aperture settings could have been manually adjusted to lighten the background, yet every picture/film shows a black sky. I seen footage where indeed the aperature settings were adjusted to allow in more light, and the background was still pretty dark. Furthermore, there is no light diffusion in an absolute vacuum. Daylight on the moon (having no atmosphere) appears roughly the same as in space. It is much much darker than daylight on earth due to diffusion (light spreading out due to an atmosphere). The technical term for this phenomenon is Heiligenschein, and is the result of light refraction, reflection, and diffraction by air molecules and other things in the air (as on earth). "Steve" <philhendrie@aol.com> wrote in news:1151467092.126586.326110 @i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com: >> How many stars could an astronaut floating in deep space see? Assume >> he's in our stellar neighborhood. > > None if you were a apollo astronaught. In an interview, three said they > saw zero stars. Seriously. That just means that their eyes were not dark adapted. While they were on the moon the surface was sunlit. Klazmon. >While they were on the moon the surface was sunlit. That may be true, but according to footage and stills, the sky at least through the lendses, was as black as coal. The aperture settings could have been manually adjusted yet every picture/film revealed a black sky. "Steve" <philhendrie@aol.com> wrote in news:1151585470.183093.69780 @d56g2000cwd.googlegroups.com: >>While they were on the moon the surface was sunlit. > > That may be true, but according to footage and stills, the sky at least > through the lendses, was as black as coal. The aperture settings could > have been manually > adjusted yet every picture/film revealed a black sky. The discussion was human vision not cameras. Klazmon. |
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