• Question: Why do the stars don't show up all the time?

    Asked by RoRo to Susan on 19 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Susan Cartwright

      Susan Cartwright answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      Because they’re faint, and during the day scattered light from the Sun drowns them out. It’s a bit like trying to see a firefly against a light-bulb.

      If you look in wavelengths in which the Sun is not bright, and which the atmosphere does not scatter – principally, radio waves – you can see sources in the daytime (not stars, as stars are not bright in the radio, but galaxies).

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