The Sky Was Black On The Moon?

reply to post by Deaf Alien
Judoon platoon landed on the moon!

Originally posted by dava6711
Russian cosmonauts have stated in their books that as soon as they left earths atmsosphere the stars were an incredible sight, I know they never stepped foot on the moon but I find the whole "I don't remember seeing any stars" kind of odd. Watching the press conference with the Apollo astronauts after the lunar mission I thought they looked uncomfortable confirming they were unable to see the stars as if they were wondering what they were supposed to say? However I still believe we have walked on the Moon but I also believe that most of the photographs from the Apollo moon landing were faked but the question is why?

As said a million times before on here the source of light on the Moon is -------Yes the Sun so exposures taken on the Moon surface are the same as a sunny day on Earth now if you have a manual camera set the exposure for a sunny day on Earth go out at night with the same settings take a picture of a dark part of the sky and see how MANY stars are in your picture.

Its the same problem for the Astonauts eyes, any of the surface in their field of view would mean there eyes (pupils)
ADJUSTED for that light level have you ever drove through a long dark tunnel on a car/train and your eyes take a few seconds to adjust well thats the problem.

reply to post by Deaf Alien


This is what i think.



Because the side of the moon that faces Earth is blasted with sunlight all the time.

The moon's surface is pretty bright, obviously, so bright that standing on the surface, even with a visor, there is probably some blinding affect in the sky, regardless of where the sun is relative to your eyes.

No atmosphere, right? No protection from the sun, full on solar radiation. The increased amounts of light and radiation might have something to do with it.

I dont think star gazing would be very rewarding on the bright side anyways, id rather be on the dark side where all the stars are :p

The moon's day is the exact same as it's orbital period around earth, in a cosmic sense it's year (around earth), which is slightly over 27 earth days. All of the moon sees the sun, how else would you explain a crescent moon in the sky?

The planet Mercury has a day about 2/3 the length of its year, I'm not looking up the exact numbers but a day on Mercury is around 58 earth days and its year, the length of earth days it takes to orbit the sun is around 88 earth days. We observe gas giants around distant stars with very close and fast orbits around their stars to also be tidally locked, meaning their day is the same as their year, only one side sees their sun. Imagine the weather on such a place.

reply to post by Devino


I was just going through my old threads to see what I have missed. I just had to reply to this.

The reason no stars are visible is because these images were taken on the Moon during the day (Lunar day). How many stars do you see in the sky here on Earth during the day? I would guess it's the same number that we all see, zero!

LOL I don't think you really understand how the atmosphere works. All they had to do was point the camera at the sky even in the daytime on the moon (with shield on of course) and it'll of course capture the stars, providing that the surface of the moon is not visible and that the sun is not at an angle that will hit the lens.

The atmosphere on earth is why we can't see the stars during daytime. During solar eclipse, people have captured stars on their cameras even when the cameras are directed at the eclipsed sun.

Here's a small example where Venus and Jupiter are visible:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/20044f0f5db7.jpg[/atsimg]

The reason we don't see stars during the day here on Earth isn't because of the atmosphere but because of the Sun. This should also be an easy connection to make.

The light rays are directional.... if the sun was behind you (in an environment where there is no atmosphere) you wouldn't see the light from the sun, see? (except from the reflected rays from the surface). If you were to look up in the sky away from the surface and with the sun behind you, the sky would be black except for the stars, correct? (providing that you allow your eyes time to adjust to the darkness).

I was watching the movie

Try reading a book, if you are interested. Movies use fantasy and fiction, to amuse the uneducated.

Truly our school system has failed since I went, and with all the tools unavailable today that weren't even sci fi when I went kids today are really out of touch with science. Either that or the pot smoking circle has evolved onto internet forums. Cool dude, don't Bogart that joint!

reply to post by Illustronic


A documentary if that makes you feel better?

reply to post by Deaf Alien


Simple answer there eyes couldn't see the stars because they were dimmer then the lunar surface. If they had landed on the dark side of the moon they would have had a breathtaking view. Though walking around wouldn't have been much fun im sure.

reply to post by Havick007

Great points.
Also, there is really no way of knowing without having been there.
And those who have been there seem to all be on the same page about what they saw in the night sky...Or rather what they didn't see(stars).

My first post, btw.....been viewing posts for about a year now and thought it time to finally join in the fun!

Christosterone

Human visual optics take longer to adjust from bright light to being able to see in a dim darkly lit area, but when you come out of a dark space you can immediately see light. One also has to take in account the ambient scattered light reflecting all over the place, makes darker areas darker, because of the light, percentage wise. Accounts I heard from astronauts that walked the moon was the highlights were whiter than any white they see on earth, and shadows were blacker than black velvet in the shade. It would take a long isolated shielded look into the lunar sky before the eyes could adjust long enough to see the stars, cameras are more impatient. They didn't got there to look at the sky. They did see earth, and they did see Venus. In lunar orbit they did see stars.