On a clear night, you should be able to get an amazing view of the night sky, seeing stars and constellations.
You might assume that being on a plane, you would be able to see everything better, however, this isn’t the case.
Frequent flyers will know that you will rarely be able to see the stars from the window of a plane.
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While this might feel counterintuitive, a scientist has explained why this is actually the case.
Ethan Siegel, a theoretical astrophysicist and science writer, took to Medium to describe how artificial light plays a huge role in the visibility of stars.
Cities and towns produce an immense amount of artificial light, from houses, shops, streetlights, cars etc - that’s why you can clearly make out built up areas from a plane during the night.
But just by being on a plane in the sky, you’re not removed from the effects of artificial light.
Ethan explained: “You can understand this pretty easily if you think about being in your own house at night. If you have the lights on inside but it’s dark outside, who can see what?
“From outside the house, someone looking in can see everything you’re up to. But if you want to see what’s going on outside, you need to turn off the lights inside and turn out the lights outside, don’t you?
“As a general rule, it needs to be darker at the place where you’re looking from than the place you’re looking to, or you won’t be able to see much of anything.
“If it weren’t for the lights of the plane itself, you would, in fact, be able to have some of the best skies available to humans.”
There are several other elements that also factor into the visibility of the stars from a plane, including the amount of light pollution you get from the ground. The sky may be clearer when flying over the ocean versus flying over a highly populated city.
The moon can also be a barrier as its light may dim your ability to make out the stars.
There are certain flight times that make it easier to get a clear view of the sky. Short distance flights that take place during the day aren't the best.
Whereas, long distance flights that include night time hours or red-eye flights, which are flights that depart at night and arrive the next morning, offer more optimal viewing experiences.
Sometimes pilots will also turn out or greatly dim the plane’s inside flights to allow passengers to more easily sleep.
