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Posted by on Apr 21, 2016 in TellMeWhy |

Why Can’t We See the Stars in the Daytime?

Why Can’t We See the Stars in the Daytime?

Why Can’t We See the Stars in the Daytime? The stars are shining all the time, day and night. We cannot see stars in the daytime because the sun is so bright. In all this brightness, the light from the stars is lost.

Visibility of the stars in the daytime diminishes because of the sunlight which is many thousands of times brighter than starlight.

Sunlight spreads out through the atmosphere and illuminates the sky. When the sun is up, the blue color in sunlight gets scattered all over the atmosphere, turning the sky the familiar bright blue color.

This blue light is much brighter than the faint light coming from the stars, so it prevents us from seeing them. Against all this brightness, the light from the stars is diminished. In the evening, we can begin to see the stars again.

The ancient Egyptians believed that stars were lanterns lighted each night by the gods. They thought that the gods let these lanterns down on cables through holes in the sky, and in the morning pulled them up again and put them out.

Content for this question contributed by Chris Boris, resident of North Tonawanda, New York, USA