Stars from the moon?

[MorningMajor]

I continue to expose my ignorance to you all once again - I was watching my recording of Starmen the other night and in it they showed an old interview between Sir Patrick Moore and Neil Armstrong who said that the Earth and the Sun are the only visible objects from the moon

Why no stars?

[lukebl]

I think it was something to do with the strong shielding in the visors to protect the astronauts' eyes from the intense glare and solar radiation. Like snow blindness. That, plus the general glare of the sun, would prevent them seeing anything, I guess.

Unless, of course, they never went there .... Only joking!

[nightfisher]

sounds like luke has it about right, i watched a documentary a few weeks back and it mentioned about not seeing stars from the moon

[cantab]

In the lunar daytime, even without atmosphere the brightness of the Sun makes it impossible to see stars with the naked eye or with a short camera exposure. Even if you're out of direct sunlight, the lunar surface reflects sunlight back at you.

That said, Venus can be seen from Earth in the day, so it may be possible to see it from the Moon too.

The lunar NIGHT, on the other hand, will be amazing for astronomy. No atmosphere, and solid ground to put your telescopes on. And the much slower rotation will be a boon for imaging, you'll be able to take 30 times longer exposures without tracking compared to on Earth.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

The lunar NIGHT, on the other hand, will be amazing for astronomy. No atmosphere, and solid ground to put your telescopes on. And the much slower rotation will be a boon for imaging, you'll be able to take 30 times longer exposures without tracking compared to on Earth.

*Swoon*

[MorningMajor]

The lunar NIGHT, on the other hand, will be amazing for astronomy. No atmosphere, and solid ground to put your telescopes on. And the much slower rotation will be a boon for imaging, you'll be able to take 30 times longer exposures without tracking compared to on Earth.

You say that, but Neil Armstrong was there at lunar night and made no comment on this at all - unless, of course, the theory about the tinted visors of the space suits is correct - but surely from the lunar module.......?

[saturn4me]

Unless, of course, they never went there .... Only joking!

[cantab]

You say that, but Neil Armstrong was there at lunar night and made no comment on this at all - unless, of course, the theory about the tinted visors of the space suits is correct - but surely from the lunar module.......?

I'm pretty sure he wasn't, and Celestia puts the Sea of Tranquility as in daylight all through the landing date and time. Trying to land at night would have been silly.

Certainly the black sky may have resulted in comparisons to night on Earth, and he may have passed through the Moon's shadow while orbiting, but not while on the Moon itself.

[Ender Of Days]

Yep,it was daylight (despite the black sky) even the bright Lunar soil would have caused the Astronauts eyes to close down enough so the Stars wouldn't be visible,

They did put a nice UV Telescope in the shadow of the LEM (forgot off hand which mission) ,

But in the night portion of Lunar Orbit it must be awesome (not that it'd be that dark inside the CM with all the lights on)

JJ..