Willst. It's from Mark Cameron. This is from Mark Cameron. Willst in space have you ever looked away from Earth into the black void? Yeah, so yeah, because you can see the stars. Oh yeah. And pretty much all the time you can see the stars. It's not a black void. I mean it's black but there's all kinds of little polka dots. There's all the stars here. And the cool thing is about you can see it during the day. And when you're in space and you're looking into deep space and you're on the sun side of the orbit, the sunlight washes out all the star lights so you can't see any stars just like pure on Earth. There's all the stars here. And the cool thing is about you can see it during the day. The sunlight washes out all the star lights so you can't see any stars just like pure on Earth. But then when you look out into deep space away from the sun it's the darkest black you can imagine. Yeah, you can't end. There's more than stars you can see planets. You can see moons. You see the gas. In like just hanging there in a vast sea of darkness. And the most frightening darkness that you could ever imagine. The Magellan clouds of the way. Yeah, you see the Magellanic clouds. Magellanic, see I was I just saw the Magellan clouds. I didn't want a small one right? Yeah. The sky is deep black when viewed from the moon as it is when viewed from syslooner space, the space between Earth and the moon. And then you can see the zodiacal light. Whoa. Those are amazing right before the sun. The lights of the zodiac. The lights of the zodiac. The zodiacal lights. Whoa. Okay. Star Amesong. I do realize that when you were on the moon you had very little time for gazing upwards. But could you tell us something about what the sky actually looks like from the moon? The sun, the Earth, the stars, if any, and so on. The sky is deep black when viewed from the moon as it is when viewed from syslooner space, the space between Earth and the moon. The Earth is the only visible object other than the sun that can be seen, although there have been some reports of seen planets. I myself did not see planets from the surface, but I suspect they might be visible. There's more than stars you can see planets. You can see moons. You see the gas. The sky, of course, was black, but it had sort of a velvet sheen to it. The biggest visual surprise was just how black the sky was. You have a brilliant sun, brighter than any sun you normally would see even here in New Mexico. You have these extraordinarily high mountains. We were in a valley deeper than the Grand Canyon. But then you have this black sky, a sky blacker than black, as the old Vidicon expression used to be. And we have to realize that in space without the intervening atmosphere, the heavens are 10 times as bright, stars 10 times as numerous. Because there's no atmospheric block, black to light. You can see those. I think you can see the upper. I mean, I know what they are, but explain it to the audience. Well, it's a big, it's this vertical column of fuzzy glow that comes up perpendicular to the horizon shortly before the sunrise. Just the inherent beauty of it, the velvet, bottomless bucket of the universe, and like just hanging there in a vast sea of darkness, and the most frightening darkness that you could ever imagine. I've often tried to explain a difference between darkness, when you turn out to lights in its darkened here, or blackness. Blackness is the endlessness of it all. It's hard to comprehend. When you get up in a clear night, Colorado up in the mountains where there's no light, and you can see all these stars, we'll multiply that by a thousand feet. That's what it's like in space. And we cannot see stars. I was just a systems engineer on a well-functioned spacecraft coming home. And so, sure, I had worked to do, but not nearly as pressing as before. And we were oriented such that we were rotating to keep thermal balance on the spacecraft. And oriented in such a way that every two minutes of the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and a 360 degree panorama of the heavens appeared in the cabin window. And that was awesome. It was an overwhelming experience. And we have to realize that in space without the intervening atmosphere, we cannot see stars. The heavens are ten times as bright, stars ten times as numerous, because there's no atmospheric block, block the light. Black, when viewed from the Moon as it is, when viewed from syslooner space, the space between Earth and the Moon, the space between Earth and the Moon. Since the Moon has no atmosphere, then a daytime picture, if you're there in the daytime of the Moon, you see a full-night night sky of stars, even with the Sun in the sky as well. When you looked up at the sky, could you actually see the stars and the solar corona in spite of the glare? We were never able to see stars from the lunar surface, or on the daylight side of the Moon by eye without looking through the optics. I don't recall during the period of time that we were photographing the Sun and the Sun and the Sun and what stars we could see. I don't remember seeing any. I don't remember seeing any. Years later though, Michael Collins would remember seeing the elusive stars and wrote about them in expeditions to the Moon. It seems his memory improved the older he got. Big fuzzy glow that goes way up high, maybe 30 or 40 degrees above the horizon, perpendicular to the horizon. And it's just fuzzy glow. It's a zodiacal light. Yeah, actually in my very first mission, we went up and when you're in space and you're looking into deep space and you're on the Sun side of the orbit, the Sun light washes out all the star lights. So you can't see any stars just like here on Earth. But then when you look out into deep space away from the Sun, it's the darkest black you can imagine. They're brighter but they're different. A lot of things different about one. You don't have the atmospheric distortion, so they don't twinkle. You see lots of points and you see lots of points and that literally millions of them. Hanging there in a vast sea of darkness and the most frightening darkness that you could ever imagine. And I love in Colorado and you get up in a clear night in Colorado, up in the mountains where there's no light. And you can see all these stars will multiply that by a thousand feet. That's what it's like in space. And then when you're outside doing a space walk and you have that one or two opportunities where you can let your eyes adjust, you can start to notice that some of the stars have colors we don't see here on the ground. The cool thing is about you can see it during the day. And when you're in space and you're looking into deep space and you're on the Sun side of the orbit, the sunlight washes out all the star lights so you can't see any stars just like here on Earth. There's all the stars here and the cool thing is about you can see it during the day. And we can out see stars. You don't see stars in the daytime on Earth. Not because they're not there, but because the atmosphere is a glow with scattered light from the Sun. If you take away the atmosphere, the Sun will still be there, but the sky goes dark. That's what the folks get when they go to the edge of the atmosphere and the calling at the edge of space. But when you get to the edge of the atmosphere, the atmosphere is no longer between you and the rest of the universe. And the stars reveal themselves just as they would at night. Since the Moon has no atmosphere than a daytime picture, if you're there in the daytime in the Moon, you see a full night sky of stars, even with the Sun in the sky as well.