Why can’t I see stars in space pics?

planet, star, photo, photograph, image, space, scienceThere are so many stars visible to the naked eye in our night sky that is seems reasonable for stars to be seen in all photos taken from space.

However, images of planets are taken using daylight camera settings with short exposure, because the planets are lit by the Sun.

The stars simply aren’t bright enough to appear in images in which they aren’t the intended subjects.

For astronauts to see stars in space, there can’t be anything lit by sunlight in their field of vision – and photographing stars means using longer exposure times than those used to shoot planets.