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Insane Contrast ratio - ultra bright sunlight when the sun gets in the frame (no atmosphere to diffuse light) plus ultra dark hard shadows as the light source i

Insane Contrast ratio - ultra bright sunlight when the sun gets in the frame (no atmosphere to diffuse light) plus ultra dark hard shadows as the light source is millions of miles away, and again no atmosphere to diffuse the light. Again ultra dark, so the camera needs to have an incredibly sensitive sensor. And incredible motion, the spacecraft is whipping by the asteroid quickly.. so you'd need a fast shutter speed to get sharp detail. Which is made difficult by the lighting conditions. No human photographer on the shutter button. Way too far away for that. Incredibly challenging photographic environment.

derefr 7y ago
> no atmosphere to diffuse light Could the spacecraft—just in theory—introduce an atmosphere? Maybe not this spacecraft, but if we’re riding around in the starship Enterprise and want to get better snaps of asteroids, would it be a good idea to just send out a big pair of glass hemispheres, encapsulate the asteroid with them, pump them full of air, and then take a picture of the asteroid-capsule system? Alternately, could you stick something really good at diffusing light—like a big block of aerogel—between the sun and the asteroid?
- _Microft 7y ago
  It... might be easier to 3D-scan the asteroid and render it with the lighting conditions of your choice in a 3D program?
- ajross 7y ago
  You'd need miles and miles of air to get the kind of blue sky environment we think of as diffuse light. If you wanted to try this trick, it would be easier just to deploy a big translucent sunshade over the frame. Or just do the science with the camera you have and ignore the fact that human viewers don't like the results aesthetically.
- chmod775 7y ago
  If your spaceship is sufficiently large you could just point a lot of lights from different angles at the smaller asteroid to get the same effect. Alternatively point a light strong light at yourself, so it is diffused back at the asteroid evenly. Photographers have used this trick for ages.
- gbrown 7y ago
  The gravity likely isn't strong enough to hold the atmosphere. Also, that's a lot of material. A large white solar sail style diffuser might work, or even easier a really really powerful flash (probably explosive based).
  - derefr 7y ago
    Well, yeah, that’s why I mention encapsulating the thing in a glass ball or somesuch first, to hold the air in as it’s pumped over. Make a gatcha/Kinder Surprise asteroid. Obviously impractical, but I really like the image of it.
- gruturo 7y ago
  Wouldn't it be immensely more practical to match course and speed, have the object perfectly still relative to you, then take multiple pictures at different exposures and assemble them into an High Dynamic Range picture? Then if you really feel like it you can apply a diffuse filter to it.
- jandrese 7y ago
  This shot was taken from 9m away. A powerful camera flash would have been sufficient. It fact it seems like a bit of a missed opportunity not to have a handful of powerful but tiny LEDs on the spacecraft and take shots with different lighting to try to get the most detail out of this as possible. Yes you need to be quick, but this can be designed.
  - maxxxxx 7y ago
    As far as I know these things are designed for scientific value and not for producing cool pictures for viewers. I am sure they are getting the best possible value for their budget with whatever they designed.
    - tomrod 7y ago
      > not for producing cool pictures for view Science funding often needs some one's buyin.
gus_massa 7y ago
> Again ultra dark, so the camera needs to have an incredibly sensitive sensor. Is it so dark? IIUC the asteroids is almost at the same distance from the Sun than Earth (something like a 50% more) so the illumination should be similar (about a half, but a glass that blocks half the light looks totally transparent at sight, it's weird to measure it experimentally). Is the soil of the asteroid too dark? Like what? Grounded coffee?
dclowd9901 7y ago
I’m surprised they didn’t house a mirror on the craft to aid in illumination
ubertakter 7y ago
> And incredible motion, the spacecraft is whipping by the asteroid quickly No it's not. The whole point of the Hayabusa2 mission is to go to the asteroid and stay there. In fact it landed on it and grabbed a sample back in March.

derefr 7y ago

> no atmosphere to diffuse light Could the spacecraft—just in theory—introduce an atmosphere? Maybe not this spacecraft, but if we’re riding around in the starship Enterprise and want to get better snaps of asteroids, would it be a good idea to just send out a big pair of glass hemispheres, encapsulate the asteroid with them, pump them full of air, and then take a picture of the asteroid-capsule system? Alternately, could you stick something really good at diffusing light—like a big block of aerogel—between the sun and the asteroid?

_Microft 7y ago
It... might be easier to 3D-scan the asteroid and render it with the lighting conditions of your choice in a 3D program?
ajross 7y ago
You'd need miles and miles of air to get the kind of blue sky environment we think of as diffuse light. If you wanted to try this trick, it would be easier just to deploy a big translucent sunshade over the frame. Or just do the science with the camera you have and ignore the fact that human viewers don't like the results aesthetically.
chmod775 7y ago
If your spaceship is sufficiently large you could just point a lot of lights from different angles at the smaller asteroid to get the same effect. Alternatively point a light strong light at yourself, so it is diffused back at the asteroid evenly. Photographers have used this trick for ages.
gbrown 7y ago
The gravity likely isn't strong enough to hold the atmosphere. Also, that's a lot of material. A large white solar sail style diffuser might work, or even easier a really really powerful flash (probably explosive based).
- derefr 7y ago
  Well, yeah, that’s why I mention encapsulating the thing in a glass ball or somesuch first, to hold the air in as it’s pumped over. Make a gatcha/Kinder Surprise asteroid. Obviously impractical, but I really like the image of it.
gruturo 7y ago
Wouldn't it be immensely more practical to match course and speed, have the object perfectly still relative to you, then take multiple pictures at different exposures and assemble them into an High Dynamic Range picture? Then if you really feel like it you can apply a diffuse filter to it.
jandrese 7y ago
This shot was taken from 9m away. A powerful camera flash would have been sufficient. It fact it seems like a bit of a missed opportunity not to have a handful of powerful but tiny LEDs on the spacecraft and take shots with different lighting to try to get the most detail out of this as possible. Yes you need to be quick, but this can be designed.
- maxxxxx 7y ago
  As far as I know these things are designed for scientific value and not for producing cool pictures for viewers. I am sure they are getting the best possible value for their budget with whatever they designed.
  - tomrod 7y ago
    > not for producing cool pictures for view Science funding often needs some one's buyin.

gus_massa 7y ago

> Again ultra dark, so the camera needs to have an incredibly sensitive sensor. Is it so dark? IIUC the asteroids is almost at the same distance from the Sun than Earth (something like a 50% more) so the illumination should be similar (about a half, but a glass that blocks half the light looks totally transparent at sight, it's weird to measure it experimentally). Is the soil of the asteroid too dark? Like what? Grounded coffee?

dclowd9901 7y ago

I’m surprised they didn’t house a mirror on the craft to aid in illumination

ubertakter 7y ago

> And incredible motion, the spacecraft is whipping by the asteroid quickly No it's not. The whole point of the Hayabusa2 mission is to go to the asteroid and stay there. In fact it landed on it and grabbed a sample back in March.