Self illumination experiment

[Santaman]

While Bagger 288 isn't a starship, at 13.500 tons and 240 meters long it comes close in size, machines like these are pretty well lit at night to prevent accidents I thought it would be interesting to see, pity its not all that dark yet.

 

[Nightfall to-Ennien]

You know, a thought occurred to me. (What? Why is everybody running away?) It seems the assumption is that exterior illumination would be meant primarily to illuminate the hull, but the Enterprise has windows, such as the four dorsal "skylights". Windows, lit from the interior, have a tendency to become obscured by reflections. Perhaps at least some of the exterior lights are there to make it so you can actually see out?

 

[Albertese]

You know, a thought occurred to me. (What? Why is everybody running away?) It seems the assumption is that exterior illumination would be meant primarily to illuminate the hull, but the Enterprise has windows, such as the four dorsal "skylights". Windows, lit from the interior, have a tendency to become obscured by reflections. Perhaps at least some of the exterior lights are there to make it so you can actually see out?

OTOH, it seems like very few of the windows are positioned in places where any part of the hull would even be visible. Aft rim of the saucer might be able to see the nacelles. Top windows of the neck might be able to see the lower surface of the saucer. Some of the windows on the B-C deck area *might* be able to see the top of the saucer, but I think that it probably slopes down to fast and the windows are "aimed" too high. It'd be interesting to put a virtual camera behind specific windows in someone's mesh to see what can or can not actually be seen...

--Alex

 

[BolianAuthor]

I wonder just how much of the ship would in fact be illuminated if it were orbiting an Earth-like planet... for instance, would the sides of the ship facing the world be brightly lit, but the sides facing space be totally dark? I wonder how stark that contrast would be in reality.

 

[Gepard]

^Well, let's have a look at some real-world examples.

Keep in mind that being in orbit around an Earth-type planet means the ship will be in proximity to a star, which is the only time we'd ever see it lit by a strong key light like they always show in Trek.

You might also be interested in my analysis of reproducing real-world orbital lighting posted here.

 

[BolianAuthor]

^

Very interesting... I hadn't thought of the reflection issue... but it's true... the right side of the shuttle isn't lit, but it's still somewhat reflecting the globe below it.

That being said...

I notice also, that a lot of NASA stuff orbits the Earth kinda pointing "up" from the Earth, where in Star Trek, the Enterprise orbits the Earth with its port side facing Earth, and the starboard facing outer space... so unlike the Space Shuttle and ISS or what have you, IDK if the side of the Enterprise facing away from the Earth altogether would really reflect anything, since it's facing space itself, and not the globe.

Nice to see the Procyon again.

 

[Warped9]

^Well, let's have a look at some real-world examples.

Keep in mind that being in orbit around an Earth-type planet means the ship will be in proximity to a star, which is the only time we'd ever see it lit by a strong key light like they always show in Trek.

You might also be interested in my analysis of reproducing real-world orbital lighting posted here.

That's interesting and looks good. You actually see quite a lot.