http://forum.davidicke.com/showthread.php?t=161825
Nasa always says, the stars just didn’t show up for their moon pictures. So, its all conviently black.
However, soviet moon pictures clearly show stars.
My theory is the soviet missions used worse quality films, and the noise looks like stars.
you would think if they could afford a rocket to go up to the moon, they could afford a decent camera. I guess you don’t think that.
The conditions in space are quite harsh - radiation and acceleration being the first coming to mind. Therefore, what is a decent camera on Earth will fail miserably in space - it’s like trying to drive Ferrari off-road. Many of these films didn’t survive missions at all, BTW.
Some of the speckles MIGHT be stars, I am not an expert. Any (amateur) astronomers here to confirm the speckles form constellations?
This video seems to clarify the “no stars” issue a bit:
In regards to matching up the specks and constellations, the video mentions a program called Celestia and actually matches up stars from one picture of the earth taken by an astronaut.
I remember hearing somewhere that NASA erased the stars from some pictures to make the primary objects stand out more (look how magnificent the Earth look here!)
Also, the surface of the moon is very bright (white dust, direct sunlight, no shade or atmosphere) while stars are relatively dim. This makes is hard to get light from stars while not washing out the subjects on the moon.
The soviet picture seems to be taken from further away from the moons surface, and it was taken by a machine which meens it may have been taken during night on the moon, meening no light getting in the way.