6 ms·

Has it always been a black screen? Could just be a fake test from someone like Urthecast to see what kind of demand a live stream would generate on launch

barkingcat 12y ago
it clearly states: "Black Image = International Space Station (ISS) is on the night side of the Earth. "
- danielweber 12y ago
  Is something explicitly setting it to black, or is total blackness what the camera is capturing?
  - eddieroger 12y ago
    My reading of their comment is that there just isn't any light since it's on the night-side of the Earth, and the Sun isn't providing any light over there. If it were over a part of the planet with light pollution, that's probably not strong enough to break through the atmosphere.
    - panzi 12y ago
      Artificial lighting can be seen from space (the only man made thing that can be seen from space), but I guess the camera isn't good enough to pick it up.
      - ApolloRising 12y ago
        Actually that is incorrect. You can see the Great Pyramids from space. Link: http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pyramids-from-space.jpg http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012... Supporting Article: http://www.universetoday.com/93398/can-you-see-the-pyramids-from-space/ http://www.universetoday.com/93398/can-you-see-the-pyramids-...
        stormbrew 12y ago
        Well, this really depends on what you mean by 'see' (and I suppose what you mean by 'space' as well, but let's just assume the ISS is the benchmark). Pictures like that, afaik, are taken with camera lenses that look roughly like [1]. You definitely can't make out city blocks with just your eyes from the ISS. [1] http://media.the-digital-picture.com/Images/Other/Canon-EF-800mm-f-5.6-L-IS-USM-Lens/Canon-EF-800mm-f-5.6-L-IS-USM-Lens.jpg http://media.the-digital-picture.com/Images/Other/Canon-EF-8...
        jonah 12y ago
        NASA actually has a very long history of using Nikon equipment. Here are a couple references to (still) photography from the ISS: http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/07/nikon-gear-at-the-iss.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/07/nikon-gear-at-the-iss.aspx... http://nikonrumors.com/2013/11/12/low-light-astrophotography-from-the-iss.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2013/11/12/low-light-astrophotography... http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/22/astronaut-chris-hadfield-how-to-take-photos-from-the-iss.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/22/astronaut-chris-hadfield-h... http://nikonrumors.com/2012/04/08/nikon-in-space-new-nightpod-intelligent-tripod-compensates-for-motion-when-taking-images-from-space.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2012/04/08/nikon-in-space-new-nightpo... And to study quantum entanglement: http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/09/400mm-nikon-lens-to-be-modified-at-the-iss-to-capture-photons-sent-from-earth.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/09/400mm-nikon-lens-to-be-mod...
        panzi 12y ago
        I meant with the naked eye. With an appropriate telescope one can of course see a lot of detail (see Google Maps). And given how low the orbit of the ISS is I guess it's easier to see things from there than from an orbit where there isn't a rest of atmosphere that slows you down (yes, the ISS has to be regularly pushed by space farriers).
      - misnome 12y ago
        Right - if the exposure is fixed so that fully lit side is normally exposed, I wouldn't be surprised if it was totally black on the other side. Probably helps the video compression for the night side, too!
  - personalcompute 12y ago
    It is odd just how black the feed is, but here is a shot of the ISS crossing from daylight to shadow to illustrate that it is the real feed and not artificial. http://i.imgur.com/tgAqmQU.png http://i.imgur.com/tgAqmQU.png

barkingcat 12y ago

it clearly states: "Black Image = International Space Station (ISS) is on the night side of the Earth. "

danielweber 12y ago
Is something explicitly setting it to black, or is total blackness what the camera is capturing?
- eddieroger 12y ago
  My reading of their comment is that there just isn't any light since it's on the night-side of the Earth, and the Sun isn't providing any light over there. If it were over a part of the planet with light pollution, that's probably not strong enough to break through the atmosphere.
  - panzi 12y ago
    Artificial lighting can be seen from space (the only man made thing that can be seen from space), but I guess the camera isn't good enough to pick it up.
    - ApolloRising 12y ago
      Actually that is incorrect. You can see the Great Pyramids from space. Link: http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pyramids-from-space.jpg http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012... Supporting Article: http://www.universetoday.com/93398/can-you-see-the-pyramids-from-space/ http://www.universetoday.com/93398/can-you-see-the-pyramids-...
      - stormbrew 12y ago
        Well, this really depends on what you mean by 'see' (and I suppose what you mean by 'space' as well, but let's just assume the ISS is the benchmark). Pictures like that, afaik, are taken with camera lenses that look roughly like [1]. You definitely can't make out city blocks with just your eyes from the ISS. [1] http://media.the-digital-picture.com/Images/Other/Canon-EF-800mm-f-5.6-L-IS-USM-Lens/Canon-EF-800mm-f-5.6-L-IS-USM-Lens.jpg http://media.the-digital-picture.com/Images/Other/Canon-EF-8...
        jonah 12y ago
        NASA actually has a very long history of using Nikon equipment. Here are a couple references to (still) photography from the ISS: http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/07/nikon-gear-at-the-iss.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/07/nikon-gear-at-the-iss.aspx... http://nikonrumors.com/2013/11/12/low-light-astrophotography-from-the-iss.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2013/11/12/low-light-astrophotography... http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/22/astronaut-chris-hadfield-how-to-take-photos-from-the-iss.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/22/astronaut-chris-hadfield-h... http://nikonrumors.com/2012/04/08/nikon-in-space-new-nightpod-intelligent-tripod-compensates-for-motion-when-taking-images-from-space.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2012/04/08/nikon-in-space-new-nightpo... And to study quantum entanglement: http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/09/400mm-nikon-lens-to-be-modified-at-the-iss-to-capture-photons-sent-from-earth.aspx/ http://nikonrumors.com/2013/04/09/400mm-nikon-lens-to-be-mod...
      - panzi 12y ago
        I meant with the naked eye. With an appropriate telescope one can of course see a lot of detail (see Google Maps). And given how low the orbit of the ISS is I guess it's easier to see things from there than from an orbit where there isn't a rest of atmosphere that slows you down (yes, the ISS has to be regularly pushed by space farriers).
    - misnome 12y ago
      Right - if the exposure is fixed so that fully lit side is normally exposed, I wouldn't be surprised if it was totally black on the other side. Probably helps the video compression for the night side, too!
- personalcompute 12y ago
  It is odd just how black the feed is, but here is a shot of the ISS crossing from daylight to shadow to illustrate that it is the real feed and not artificial. http://i.imgur.com/tgAqmQU.png http://i.imgur.com/tgAqmQU.png