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From this face of Luna you always have Earth to steer by and half the time
you have the Sun as well. The stars? Certainly, the stars are always there-no
rain, no clouds, no smog. Oh, sure! Look, I have news for any groundhogs
listening: You can see stars easier from Iowa than you can from Luna.
You'll be wearing a p-suit, right? Its helmet has a lens and a visor
designed to protect your eyes-that amounts to built-in smog. If the Sun is up,
forget about stars; your lens has darkened to protect your eyes. If the Sun is
not in your sky, then Earth is somewhere between half and full and earthshine is
dazzling-eight times as much reflecting surface with five times the albedo makes
Earth at least forty times as bright as moonlight is to Earth.
Oh, the stars are there and sharp and bright; Luna is wonderful for
astronomical telescopy. But to see stars with "bare" eyes (i.e., from inside
your p-suit helmet), just find a meter or two of stove pipe- Wups! no stoves on
Luna. So use a couple of meters of air duct. Look through it; it cuts out the
dazzle; stars shine out "like a good deed in a naughty world."
In front of me Earth was a bit past half phase. On my left the rising Sun
was a day and a half high, twenty degrees or less; it made bright the desert
floor, with long shadows emphasizing anything other than perfect flatness,
thereby making driving easy for Aunt Lilybet
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