Can you see stars from a plane at night?
09-11-2016, 04:27 PM
#3
Disinterested Third Party
Joined APC: Jun 2012
Posts: 6,003
Originally Posted by wayki
Please help with this debate i am having.
Obviously assume the cabin lights are off.
Can one see stars from over 30,000 feet in an Airliner?
Obviously assume the cabin lights are off.
Can one see stars from over 30,000 feet in an Airliner?
09-11-2016, 06:06 PM
#5
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Joined APC: Nov 2013
Position: 7th green
Posts: 4,378
Had one goofy "stars" incident years ago. Flying over North Dakota at night. A lot of the farms have one white street lamp type light on the barn. Those combined with the stars combined to make the optical illusion that we were surrounded by stars, both above and below.
Since the oil patch boom up there, the phenomena is gone, replaced by the gas fire burnoffs from the oil wells, but it was cool at the time.
I've also seen the International Space Station reflecting sunlight out over the Pacific a couple times as well.
However, nothing compares with a good Aurora Borealis light show.
Since the oil patch boom up there, the phenomena is gone, replaced by the gas fire burnoffs from the oil wells, but it was cool at the time.
I've also seen the International Space Station reflecting sunlight out over the Pacific a couple times as well.
However, nothing compares with a good Aurora Borealis light show.
09-11-2016, 06:48 PM
#6
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Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: Curator at Static Display
Posts: 5,681
Clarification for wayki:
In remote areas (oceans; South America) it is usually great for seeing the heavens......through cockpit windows.
Cockpit windows, especially the forward windshields, angle upwards, giving a better angle, and importantly, are a glass/plastic/glass sandwich. Surface-finish is extremely important in optic propagation.
Passenger windows, however, are near vertical; aimed more at the horizon. THEY are just plexiglass, and in my view, do not have as fine a resolution as glass.
The Milky Way seems aptly named when viewed from 35,000 ft, and the cockpit lights are dim. I've seen stars in flight that I've never seen from the ground.
In remote areas (oceans; South America) it is usually great for seeing the heavens......through cockpit windows.
Cockpit windows, especially the forward windshields, angle upwards, giving a better angle, and importantly, are a glass/plastic/glass sandwich. Surface-finish is extremely important in optic propagation.
Passenger windows, however, are near vertical; aimed more at the horizon. THEY are just plexiglass, and in my view, do not have as fine a resolution as glass.
The Milky Way seems aptly named when viewed from 35,000 ft, and the cockpit lights are dim. I've seen stars in flight that I've never seen from the ground.
09-11-2016, 08:13 PM
#8
Banned
Joined APC: Sep 2016
Posts: 375
Originally Posted by Packrat
I've also seen the International Space Station reflecting sunlight out over the Pacific a couple times as well.
Heavens Above is good for that too, including seeing Iridium Flares.
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