Artemis II: People Are Surprised You Can See Stars In Photos Taken By The Artemis II Crew

Summary: People are amazed by the new Artemis II photos because you can actually see stars and planets in the background! For a long time, photos from space made it look like a black, empty void. Why? It's all about how cameras work. In older pictures, things like white spacesuits, the Moon, and Earth were so bright from the sun that cameras had to take very quick snaps (short exposures). This blocked out the dim light of distant stars.

The new Artemis II pictures were taken looking at darker areas, like the night side of Earth, with the sun lighting them from behind. This allowed the camera to let in more light, finally revealing the beautiful, starry sky that was hiding there all along. Space isn't an empty black room; it's just really hard to photograph when you are standing next to super bright objects!

For more details, see rssapp-iflscience-com at iflscience.com/yes-you-can-see-stars-and-planets-in-the-artemis-ii-photos-heres-why-83102 (opens in new tab)