Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Ask CNN: When You See Video Footage of the Space Shuttle or International Space Shuttle in Orbit, You Never See Any Stars -- Why Not?

Aired November 30, 2001 - 09:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Tyler Schwartz from New York, New York, asks, "When you see video footage of the space shuttle or International Space Shuttle in orbit, you never see any stars -- why not? Can you see them with your naked eye?"

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Tyler, it depends on what camera you're looking at. If you are looking at the color cameras on board the Space Station and space shuttle, you won't see any stars. The basic reason there is a simple matter of what the exposure is on that camera at that moment. In other words, it's not sensitive enough to capture the brightness of the shuttle or the space walker or the Space Station and still able to distinguish stars way off in a distance.

However, the space shuttle is equipped with some low-light- capable cameras akin to surveillance cameras, black-and-white cameras, and when the shuttle goes through a nighttime pass, frequently those pictures from those cameras are brought down, and they do reveal many stars.

The astronauts tell me the number of stars that you can see in orbit is just amazing. And frequently it is difficult for them to pick out the stars they use for navigation because there are so many other stars in the way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com