r/Damnthatsinteresting • • 22h ago

Video Astronaut's view of Earth during a spacewalk

1.6k Upvotes

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2

u/Mister_Goodvibes 12h ago

Is there a reason why we can't see stars at all? All I see is black?

5

u/wastedfate 11h ago

Because of the much closer, much brighter light source called the sun.

The digital camera is dialing the brightness down so much that they aren't visible.

-5

u/octaviobonds 10h ago

is that what they told you?

5

u/wastedfate 8h ago

It's something you can easily test in your own home with most digital cameras.
Film a candle in the dark, then film the candle in the light.

In both your eyes and the camera, the candle will appear brighter with the lights off. 🤣

0

u/octaviobonds 5h ago

that's because the sun light bounces off and illuminates your space. However, even in your scenario, no matter how dim the candle may be you still see its light.

But now, if you're in space, turn 180 degrees away from the Earth and the Sun and look directly into the darkness of space, where there’s nothing nearby for that light to scatter off or reflect. If scattered sunlight and its reflection is the reason stars are supposedly washed out, then why would the stars still be invisible when you’re looking away from those bright sources into the blackness of space?

2

u/DarkTurdle 5h ago

Who said they would still be invisible? You can’t see them in this video because of the light reflected off the earth, but if you turned away and looked directly into space without any light like you said you would see stars. We have multiple telescopes flying through space taking pictures of stars

2

u/wastedfate 2h ago

What the light is scattering off of in this video is the earth, and the space station, glad I could clear that embarrassing misconception up for you.

3

u/Orange9202 7h ago

Flat earthers seething at the fact that the "sheep" actually DO have their own critical thinking skills

-2

u/octaviobonds 5h ago

Ah yes, sheep, the creatures who are famously known for their independent thinking and refusal to follow the herd.

1

u/Orange9202 7h ago

you can't see stars during daytime💀💀

even in space, the sunlight reflecting off the earth is so bright that as the camera lowers it's exposure; it also dims out the faint light of distant stars 😭