Features of the photo taken in space: why they can not see the stars?

Recently, after a live broadcast from the International Space Station (ISS), a lot of comments appeared on the web, which indicated that these shots had to be a fake, since there are no stars in the background.

Now we could discuss how these people believe that governments around the world are engaged in a trillion dollar scam, and that they alone, commenting on the Web, were able to detect inaccuracies. Or we can recognize that not everyone can understand this issue, but there is nothing shameful here, as long as we are actively trying to fight it. So what was the matter?

Problems with lighting

The stars are clearly visible in space. In fact, we can see them better from outer space than through our dense atmosphere. That's why scientists continue to send telescopes.

The reason why stars are not visible in a photo has much more in common with the photograph itself than with astronomy.

The stars are dim enough compared to the light reflected from the Earth and the Moon. In order to take good pictures in outer space, it is necessary to have a high shutter speed and a very short exposure. This means that our planet and the moon are clearly visible, but the stars often do not show up in the photo.

Traveling speed

Besides the unusual lighting conditions in outer space, there is another factor that requires a fast reaction time of the camera. ISS moves at a speed of 8 kilometers per second, which is great for being in orbit, but the photos in this case turn out to be blurry.

Equipment Features

The problem is not only this. Try to photograph the night sky on your smartphone. How many stars do you see? And what happens if you try to photograph something in the foreground? Will your camera also catch the stars in the background?

It is these reasons that make astrophotographers use very expensive equipment, optimized for a specific task, and carefully plan the weather conditions and exposure time.

But even if the stars are often not visible in all photos, videos and online broadcasts, there are many beautifully shot images showing stars, and even the Milky Way, shot by the ISS, which are in the public domain, so you can see them at any time. .