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triffid_hunter t1_ity2aik wrote

Well the sun appears white rather than yellow because its blue light doesn't get scattered by the atmosphere, faint stars are more easily visible, and stars don't twinkle - but they're still a fairly similar absolute brightness to how they appear from the ground.

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ConfidentLo OP t1_ity2jgc wrote

So it’s as dark out there as it is on TV shows. I was thinking maybe it’s a lot brighter than we think.

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triffid_hunter t1_ity3aty wrote

Without any atmospheric scattering, it's pitch black unless you're looking directly at a light source (gravitational lensing aside)

Still enough sunlight to make thermal management very important though - consider that the surface of the Moon hits 120°C during its day, and -130°C during its night ;)

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ConfidentLo OP t1_ity3po8 wrote

Didn’t know the moon got that hot. Jesus.

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triffid_hunter t1_ity49pj wrote

That's why all the moon landing photos have such long shadows and why the suits and craft were all painted white - they tried to land near the terminator to simplify thermal management ;)

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gm310509 t1_ity4f2k wrote

If you live near a remote area, drive out there on a moon less night and have a look If you can get away from city lights and just stare up, you will see how black it is and the longer you stay there the more you will see.

If you are lucky, you will see shooting stars, maybe satellites (they are like shooting stars but much slower and do not blink like planes do) and maybe even what look like clouds starting to form but do not really move or change - that last one is all of the stars in our galaxy. If you have binoculars, look at the cloud or even individual stars and you will see them expand into clusters of stars!

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Macktologist t1_ity550r wrote

My favorite is when you’re out camping somewhere away from lights and know where to look for star clusters or other DSOs and you can perceive them until you look directly at them because of the whole rods and cones eye thing.

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ballsoutofthebathtub t1_ity8knw wrote

It will depend on which side of the planet you are on in terms of day or night. During the day side the glare from the sun is just as intense as on earth and the reflected light off of earth is so bright that your eyes won’t be able to ‘expose’ the fainter stars. Whereas on the shadowed (or night) side you will likely be able to see a vast blanket of stars that are difficult to see on the surface of earth due to cloud and/or light pollution.

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Saber_Flight t1_ity26a6 wrote

Depends, if you're looking at the sun very bright. If you're on the dark side of the Earth looking out towards space, dark.

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ConfidentLo OP t1_ity1zl2 wrote

Failed to find this on Google. If you’re in a spaceship near Earth and you go on a space walk, how bright is the light from the Sun and nearby stars? Would it be dazzling, bright, & colorful or as dark as looks in sci-fi movies?

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km_j3825 t1_ity4f2x wrote

In order for us to actually see light we either have to be looking directly at the source or it needs to bounce off of something into our eyes and there's really not that many things for light to bounce off of in space, so yes most of it is dark

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space-ModTeam t1_itympms wrote

Hello u/ConfidentLo, your submission "How Bright is Space from Low Earth Orbit?" has been removed from r/space because:

  • Such questions should be asked in the "All space questions" thread stickied at the top of the sub.

Please read the rules in the sidebar and check r/space for duplicate submissions before posting. If you have any questions about this removal please message the r/space moderators. Thank you.

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