Why is outer space so dark?
544299
outer space is not dark.\n\nyou can see something only if it's got some sort of reflective material, or if it emits its own light energy, at the least. so you can't see a cold black planet that doesn't create its own light. but you can see a star that burns stuff to create light. and you can also see stuff such as huge clouds of gas, which reflect light.\n\nand this light, it comes from the zillions of stars that create their own...\n\nso to answer your question in short, outer space *seems* dark because there's nothing that can reflect or produce light, in the direction you're looking.\n\nlook somewhere else, and you can see something shiny and lit.\n\nor, better still, move to a dark-sky location (atleast 30-40mi away from city lights) and see the night sky... you'll be amazed at how light it really is.
334395
Light is cool stuff.It acts like radiation but when it hits something it act like a particle.You cant see light until it hits something and it releases its energy.So most of the light after you turn the switch off hits something and ceases to be but a very small amount might be lucky to shine out to open sky and even less might leave earth.It will keep going till it hits something all happening at the speed of light.Like looking at very distant stars ,its taken billions of years for the light to reach us.The star is long gone switched off but we are still seeing the light from it very diffused but what we see hasn't hit anything on its journey and it's an infinitely small amount of what originally left that star/sun
963666
because it gets dark at night on this planet
1115385
Dust and the expanding universe keep the night sky dark.
585811
This question may be interpreted in two ways.  First, why is the sky not blue at night?  The answer for that is that the sky appears blue during the day because it scatters high energy sunlight.  The atmosphere scatters high energy starlight as well, but there isn't enough of that to make the sky appear blue.\n\nThe other interpretation is why is the sky not totally lit by stars?  That is actually a very important question that was pondered by famous astronomers.  It is called the Dark Night Sky Paradox, or Olbers' Paradox, and was contemplated by such notables as Halley and Kepler as well as the eponymous Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers.  If the universe is of infinite age (as was once assumed) and static, and the stars have had eternity to shine, shouldn't the sky be lit?  \n\nSome people hypothesized that the stars did not appear randomly in all directions.  (So the stars are arranged in straight lines with the Earth at the center so that starlight piles into intervening stars, and there are empty gaps?  Even before Hubble proved that "dark sky" is teeming with distant galaxies, that sounded stupid.)  Others said that dust in the way absorbed starlight.  But after an eternity of absorbing starlight, wouldn't the dust glow as well, and light up the night sky?\n\nThe fact that space is dark turns out to be proof in part that the Universe is not infinite, eternal, and static.  That in fact it had a beginning point in time and space and the Universe is changing.
1006967
Actually you could see right through the nebula. Nebulae are extremely thin and much clearer than the air on clearest day on Earth. The only reason we can see them at all is that they are trillions of miles thick. It wouldn't be like the movies at all, where the space ship is hidden in a dense fog, it would be more like space looking clear but the stars appearing somewhat dimmer. So you could just triangulate on a number of known stars outside the nebula to determine your position.
231023
This is caused by thermic convection of the air. In the deserts you normally have high differences in temperature between day and night, so hot air is rising rapidly while cold air is moving downwards after sunset. This different densities in the air makes the light bend and the stars seems as if they are dancing, just as if you were looking through an irregular glass. \nIt's a bad night for astronomers.
200508
The answer is darkness.
1022362
Off course scienists investigate this. Our galaxy is pretty flat around where we are - only 3,000 light years wide. It gets thicker then that in the center -16,000 light years but that's still pretty thin compare to it's length - about 100,000 light years across. "above" and "below" us are other stars, possibly with other planets. Basically the same things that are "in front" and "behind" us across the length of the galactic disk. \nOn a very dark night you'll be able to see a bright band across the night sky - that's the Milky Way. You'll then be looking towards the galactic center. The pictures we recive from satelites and telescope come from different directions.\nAs for a 3D model of the universe there is such a project in progress but it deals with objects on a much larger scale - galaxy clusters, superclusters, walls and fillaments.
226485
You reminded me of my childhood days. I used to ask my father the same Questions.\n\nClouds don't go any where during night. They are still there it only that there is not enough light for us to see them. Remember when you see moon light we see those clouds around or sometimes the moon hiding behind the clouds.
968448
It has thinner atmosphere and is further from the sun, so it should be dimmer, however the entire planet is highly reflective sand so it can probably be somewhat bright to the eye as well.\n\nBut as compared to Earth, I would imagine it's dimmer.
1100389
sorry but on earth our atmosphere acts like a lens (it magnifies)\nif in space, the sun itself would seem as a pale red star, if you could ask neil armstrong why the controversy, it would probably be because of what he saw ( or didnt see) that kept the hushh going. :)
1179423
If you were able to create an Earth-like atmosphere on a planet, then it would scatter sunlight just as Earth's does and the sky would be blue and bright when the sun was on it. If you just have a pressurized dome (a more technologically feasible situation), there wouldn't be enough air to significantly scatter light and you could look out of the dome and see black sky.
463050
It's the matter that provides the gravitational force that stops our galaxies from being flung apart by angular momentum.  It's called dark because we can't see it, but we know it's there because it bends light
185349
The galaxy center is mostly obscured by dust.  Therefore, its brightness is greatly dimmed.
1107021
Yes. Darkness is an absence of light. To make it "darker" you subtract light. You cannot add darkness.
953054
people call "dark" what they cannot "see"".To "see" means to detect by means of their eyes that part of electromagnetic waves which we call "visible light".But there is much more "energy" than that.