Where Are the Stars?

When viewing space photography, such as Apollo or International Space Station photos, people often ask, “Where are the stars?” Typically such photos properly expose the bright lunar or space station surfaces and consequently underexpose the dim background stars, rendering space as featureless black.

Current ISS astronaut Matthew Dominick has been experimenting with photography, and his photo below, of a docked SpaceX Dragon taken from a docked Boeing Starliner, just after orbital sunset and just as Earth’s moon rises, does show stars from our Milky Way galaxy, with the spacecraft dimly illuminated by moonlight. Note the face in the Dragon window.

Dragon spacecraft with Milky Way stars illuminated faintly by moonlight, 2024 June 29. A 1s, f1.4, ISO 5000, 28mm photo by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick. Click for a larger version.