Why Pictures from Space Stations Don’t Show Thousands of Satellites Orbiting Earth

Have you ever wondered why images taken from space stations do not reveal the multitude of satellites orbiting Earth? It’s a common yet intriguing question, given that we can see cars, ships, trains, and airplanes from satellite images. However, the answer lies in the fundamental principles of observational astronomy and photographic resolution.

The Basic Reason: Resolving Power

The basic reason that you do not see satellites in space station images is that the satellites are far too small and too far away to be resolved by the camera’s optical system. To illustrate, if you are standing 400 miles away from a person and they wave their arms wildly, they would be too small to be seen by someone observing from that distance. Similarly, from a camera's perspective, satellites are too small and too far away to be captured in detail.

Scale Comparisons

Imagine a field with tens of thousands of insects; their presence would be invisible in a photograph. Satellites face a similar challenge. The average satellite is no larger than a car, and given the vast distance between the Earth and the space station, these satellites are simply too small to be captured in a photograph.

Examples and Analogies

Consider an example: a 12-inch globe representing the Earth. If, just before this photo was taken, a janitor smoked a cigarette in the room where the picture was taken, would you see the smoke particles surrounding the globe? The size difference between the Earth and the satellites is so significant that even smoke particles would be invisible in this scenario. Similarly, the satellites are so small that even if a camera had the ability to resolve them, their images would be too small to fill a single pixel in the resulting image.

Why Satellite Images Show Cars and Not Satellites

While it's true that we can see cars, ships, trains, and airplanes in satellite images, the density and size of the objects play a crucial role. Cars are relatively large and numerous, offering much more area for a camera to resolve. In contrast, the vast majority of satellites are smaller and more sparse, making it extremely difficult to spot them from space.

Additional Factors

Several other factors contribute to why space station images do not capture satellite imagery:

Low Orbit Position of the ISS: The International Space Station (ISS) orbits at a relatively low altitude, meaning almost all satellites and debris are above it. Spread-Out Satellites: There are approximately only a few thousand satellites, spread out over a vast surface area compared to the Earth. If these satellites were cars on the ground, there would be only one car in the entire USA. Adding one car to an empty country does not change the landscape significantly, just as adding a few hundreds of satellites to the vastness of space does not change the view. Size of Satellites: Most satellites are smaller than cars, making them far too small for a space station camera to capture in a single image. Even if the camera had enough resolving power, the image of a satellite would be too small to be visible on the final image.

Conclusion: Questioning Common Assumptions

Many of the questions about why we can’t see satellites in space station photos stem from an intuitive understanding of how things look from ground level. However, the scale and resolution of space images are drastically different. It's essential to question and think critically about such assumptions rather than accepting them without understanding the underlying physics and optics.

By understanding the resolving power of cameras, the scale of the Earth, and the vastness of space, we can better appreciate the complexity and wonder of satellite imagery from the vantage point of space stations.