InkDark
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1461
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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Why are there no pictures of star fields taken from the ISS or the shuttle or the Apollo missions? I was just watching the documentary "When we left Earth" and some astronauts mentioned that the stars don't twinkle when they watch through the window because there is no atmosphere to get in the way. Twinkle or not I would like to see any pictures of deep space taken from outside Earth's atmosphere.
BTW, I'm aware that Hubble is taking pictures from space but I'd like to see what the astronauts were seeing.
Thanks.
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Jimmy
"Rarely Have So Many Understood So Little About So Much" - Palle Yourgrau
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
What do you mean by “Saving the Earth”? The Earth is not in danger! Don’t worry about the planet it will be here long after we are extinct...
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 10441
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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I'd assume that since the pictures taken are always of either the Earth, Moon, or the spacecraft itself, the exposure's not right to also capture stars. I don't know of any shots from astronaut cameras that were dedicated to star fields on space missions. Also, since the cameras are handheld, and the orbital motion is much more rapid than the Earth's rotation, getting a decent length of exposure would not likely be easy.
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"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye) 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
10" Homebuilt dob, old Coulter mirror
Next Project: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
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InkDark
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1461
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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Thanks David for that clear and to the point answer. This makes a lot of sense.
Can you tell that I'm not in astrophotography yet! 
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Jimmy
"Rarely Have So Many Understood So Little About So Much" - Palle Yourgrau
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
What do you mean by “Saving the Earth”? The Earth is not in danger! Don’t worry about the planet it will be here long after we are extinct...
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InkDark
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1461
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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I can’t get enough of the descriptions astronauts make of what they’ve seen in space. Man, I wish I could go to the Moon and back, even if I would probably pass out during liftoff. 
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Jimmy
"Rarely Have So Many Understood So Little About So Much" - Palle Yourgrau
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
What do you mean by “Saving the Earth”? The Earth is not in danger! Don’t worry about the planet it will be here long after we are extinct...
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 10441
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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You're not alone in that, Jimmy!
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"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye) 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
10" Homebuilt dob, old Coulter mirror
Next Project: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
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gazerjim
Postmaster
Reged: 02/12/04
Posts: 7704
Loc: About where I thought I was......
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The only comparison that comes to mind would be trying to photograph star fields from the window seat of a high flying airliner at night. As far as I now, it does not work very well. In the case of astronauts on the moon, I'm guessing that settings correct for lunar surface glare would not register overhead stars.
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Jim Fisher
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Henry J. Tillman
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Skip
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 805
Loc: Austin, Texas, USA
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Well I spent about 5500 hours in the window seat (well OK, the front seat) of a high-flying cargo aircraft, much of it at night. They didn't jokingly call MAC the "Midnight Air Command" for nothing!)  For some reason, I never tried to photograph the night skies, but as long as you turned off the cockpit lighting, I don't see why it wouldn't work. BUT, I DO know that the eyeball views of the heavens from 40,000 ft were SPECTACULAR! 
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Skip
Celestron NexStar 6SE (Small Caliber)
Orion SkyQuest XT10i Intelliscope (Howitzer)
2 25mm Plossls; 24mm & 13mm Hyperions; 10mm Plossl; 6mm BO/TMB; 2X Barlow
Telrad + 4" Riser
7Ah PowerTank
Starbound Observing Chair
“It’s impossible to make things foolproof because fools are so ingenious.” (Unknown)
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InkDark
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1461
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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You're lucky Skip! As for taking pictures from somewhere else than Earth, I think the difficulties would be associated to tracking. I could be wrong, I don't do AP.
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Jimmy
"Rarely Have So Many Understood So Little About So Much" - Palle Yourgrau
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
What do you mean by “Saving the Earth”? The Earth is not in danger! Don’t worry about the planet it will be here long after we are extinct...
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David Knisely
Postmaster
Reged: 04/19/04
Posts: 6760
Loc: Beatrice, Nebraska
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Quote:
Why are there no pictures of star fields taken from the ISS or the shuttle or the Apollo missions? I was just watching the documentary "When we left Earth" and some astronauts mentioned that the stars don't twinkle when they watch through the window because there is no atmosphere to get in the way. Twinkle or not I would like to see any pictures of deep space taken from outside Earth's atmosphere.
BTW, I'm aware that Hubble is taking pictures from space but I'd like to see what the astronauts were seeing.
Thanks.
They have tried this quite successfully:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIDdbG7TD-Y
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/24mar_noseprints.htm
Clear skies to you.
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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info
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gazerjim
Postmaster
Reged: 02/12/04
Posts: 7704
Loc: About where I thought I was......
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Skip, that sounds like a REAL window seat. The view must have been awesome. 
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Jim Fisher
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Henry J. Tillman
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Skip
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 805
Loc: Austin, Texas, USA
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Yes it certainly was. Looking back on it, I wish I had paid closer attention to it then. I was mildly interested in astronomy during that time, but if I could do it all over again, I would take lots of pictures and try harder to identify things. I do remember identifying the LMC and SMC (very bright), but other stuff I just can't recall, other than a general impression of magnificence! Now I do it from under the thick blanket of the atmosphere and wish I could get back up to 40M ft! Oh well, we only get to go around once in life.
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Skip
Celestron NexStar 6SE (Small Caliber)
Orion SkyQuest XT10i Intelliscope (Howitzer)
2 25mm Plossls; 24mm & 13mm Hyperions; 10mm Plossl; 6mm BO/TMB; 2X Barlow
Telrad + 4" Riser
7Ah PowerTank
Starbound Observing Chair
“It’s impossible to make things foolproof because fools are so ingenious.” (Unknown)
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InkDark
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1461
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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Thanks David! I guess thay have a better view than what they brought back but still it gives an idea.
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Jimmy
"Rarely Have So Many Understood So Little About So Much" - Palle Yourgrau
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
What do you mean by “Saving the Earth”? The Earth is not in danger! Don’t worry about the planet it will be here long after we are extinct...
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Lard Greystoke
super member
Reged: 07/27/08
Posts: 185
Loc: Ohio
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The Apollo astronauts don't seem to have had great views of the stars. Before they landed, when I was a kid, some people thought that due to lack of atmosphere shadows and sky would be pitch-black. Not so, there was plenty of light-scatter. One of the astronauts was asked about his best view of the stars and he said "Mojave Desert".
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Lard Greystoke
10" Odyssey Compact
"With Tantor, the elephant, he made friends. How? Ask me not."
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jayscheuerle
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/16/06
Posts: 2964
Loc: S. Philadelphia, PA
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The problem on the Moon was that the sky was pitch black. Completely. But it was during the day.
But if they had been on the far side during a full moon, you can bet those would have been incomparable skies... - j
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12" Green Goblin (trusser w/Protstar secondary and OWL refigured primary)• 6" f/5 Eero2 ball-scope • 6" f/5 Frankenscope • Garrett Optical 10x50 binos • Edmund 8" yoke-mounted red-tube reflector • Edmund 6" GEQ red-tube reflector (on loan to Dad)
Gone, but with lessons learned:
Skyquest XT8 • NexSTar 8i • Eeroscope 6" f/5 ball(sacrifice was not in vain) • Vixen ED80sf • Edmund red-tube 4.25" f/10 • Edmund Astroscan
Facts are stubborn things.
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Matthew Ota
super member
Reged: 04/30/05
Posts: 197
Loc: New Hampshire
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Hmmm, from a lunar point of view that would be on the far side all of the time, since the far side never faces the earth. It would be dark skies after the sun sets.
If you were standing on the moon on the near side, the Earth would always appear in the same spot in the sky all month, and just go through its phases.
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Matthew Ota
10 inch Meade LX250GPS SCT (LX50/LX200GPS clone) f6.3-Orion 80ED, ETX-90 OTA, Coronado Helios 1 H-alpha Solar Telescope
Cassini Huygens Saturn Observation Campaign
New Hampshire Astronomical Society
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jayscheuerle
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/16/06
Posts: 2964
Loc: S. Philadelphia, PA
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Seeing as a "day" on the moon is 27 of ours, you'd have quite a span of darkness going on.
Besides, as long as you shielded your eyes and your scope from the sun, the sky would look pretty good most of those 27 days.
And from the far side, you'd never have Earthshine!
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12" Green Goblin (trusser w/Protstar secondary and OWL refigured primary)• 6" f/5 Eero2 ball-scope • 6" f/5 Frankenscope • Garrett Optical 10x50 binos • Edmund 8" yoke-mounted red-tube reflector • Edmund 6" GEQ red-tube reflector (on loan to Dad)
Gone, but with lessons learned:
Skyquest XT8 • NexSTar 8i • Eeroscope 6" f/5 ball(sacrifice was not in vain) • Vixen ED80sf • Edmund red-tube 4.25" f/10 • Edmund Astroscan
Facts are stubborn things.
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GlennLeDrew
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/18/08
Posts: 577
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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A couple of points to ponder...
-- From ground level, our atmosphere dims objects which are overhead by about 0.2 magnitude, if I recall correctly. So the gain to be had from a plane in the stratosphere, when looking straight up, is not terribly great. (But the views toward the horizon are *quite* improved due to the considerably smaller amount of atmosphere to gaze through at small angles from horizontal.)
-- The ultimate limit to sky darkness on Earth is the airglow layer, about 100 km up. And it's quite the source of light pollution, too. From above the airglow layer, in orbit, the "sky" is about 1.5 magnitudes (a factor of 4!) darker when looking well away from the ecliptic plane's zodiacal light/band/Gegenschein. On Earth--and his includes mountain tops and stratoliners--the darkest sky possible is ~22.0 mag/arces^2. From space, therefore, it's ~23.5 mag/arsec^2.
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Home-made 11X50 right angle bino, 8.1 deg. FOV
Modified 26X100 bino, 3.5 deg. FOV
Mediocre minds discuss people. Good minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas.
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InkDark
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1461
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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What about looking at the Sun from space? Now that must be a very painfull but great sight! 
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Jimmy
"Rarely Have So Many Understood So Little About So Much" - Palle Yourgrau
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
What do you mean by “Saving the Earth”? The Earth is not in danger! Don’t worry about the planet it will be here long after we are extinct...
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InkDark
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/29/07
Posts: 1461
Loc: Montreal, Canada
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Now that must be the view of a lifetime! STS 120 
Note: click on the picture to have it full size.
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Jimmy
"Rarely Have So Many Understood So Little About So Much" - Palle Yourgrau
"...since that time, I have not complained about the weather one single time. I’m glad there is weather." – Alan Bean, Apollo 12
What do you mean by “Saving the Earth”? The Earth is not in danger! Don’t worry about the planet it will be here long after we are extinct...
|
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