ShenZhou mission pictures, taken on the moon? Are you talking about the moon
surface picture taken by ShenZhou mission? Those are patched up picture
with the method of scanning which is different from normal cameras' total
exposure method taking the entire picture at once. ShenZhou mission resolution
is the several meters by several meters which means one pixel represent
an area of several meters by several meters of moon surface. Keep in mind,
moon surface is much closer than the stars, just imagine the same camera
scans the sky, one pixel represent a rather large part of the sky, even if
that area has many stars in it, the average light is still very low which
result that pixel being dark and no stars.
Therefore, scan or total exposure, as long as the picture is taken by digital
camera with the low resolution, the stars won't show up in the pictures,
since one pixel represent a rather large part of the sky in which
although there are many, many stars but even more darkness. In other words,
stars are overwhelmed by darkness. Once understand the principle of digital photography, it isn't hard to understand in order to capture the stars or details from
far distance the camera must have the corresponding high resolution required.
The picture from mars by NASA programs must be taken by digital camera,
hence those pictures are not capable of having any stars.
Actually, ALL the Apollo pictures are taken by normal optical cameras and
even with the regular film, film capture image by chemical molecules which
are much smaller than the size of the pixels and consequently having much
higher resolution. Please read
As to the focusing issue, it should only matter the closer shot, 20, 30 or
50 meters beyond it matters very little. Of course, these are the reality
on earth which maybe different from the moon. But, the physics is the same
on both earth and moon, that's why the physicists and photography experts
are asking those questions.
Also, not only ALL the Apollo pictures have no stars, but also the Apollo
astronauts didn't see stars, more precisely, using their own words "don't
recall seeing any stars", of course this has nothing to do with the question
I am posing here in this forum.
