from earth, we can see stars. From the ISS live stream, we cannot see the stars. How come?

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I noticed when watching the live stream video from the ISS there were no stars visible, in the same way we see them from earth. The ISS was in a night zone of the earth. Does it have to do with light?

In: Earth Science

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It has to do with the cameras and with overall exposure/ISO. It would be worth your while to understand how a camera works to better understand this answer.

Essentially, a camera is not as complex as the human eye. And in order to see light from billions of light years away, we need to leave the shutter open for a long time and also bring up the sensitivity of the ISO sensor in the camera. This is how we get “galaxy images” from amateur photographers. Unfortunately, the video cameras on board the ISS are not as fine-tuned and thus do not receive the light information from the stars. The overpowering light source is coming from the sunlight bouncing off the planet and if the sensors on the cameras were turned up, the Earth would be blown out and we wouldn’t be able to see anything.

Our eyes, on the other hand, can process all of this together so we see it all. The astronauts on the ISS can see the stars.

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