Why does the sun light up planets and not all of space?

Question

Why does the sun light up planets and not all of space?

Answer 1

The sun lights up planets because they are closer to it.  The sun doesn't light up all of space because space is huge.  Our sun is not bright enough to light up space.

Answer 2

Think of it like a flash on a camera ~ The object in the photograph will be lit up by the camera flash as long as it is within range of how far the light from the flash will travel..Objects photographed outside of the distance of the flash will appear darker/not lit by the camera flash.

Same for the light from the sun. The light from the sun will only travel so far, objects within range of the distance of the sunlight will appear lit up.

Objects outside of the distance of how far the light from the sun will travel, will appear in darkness.

Answer 3

we see planets because of the sun's light being reflected. if there is nothing for the sun's light to reflect off of, then there is nothing to be seen. space iteself is empty- it doesn't have any matter. matter ocupies space, but space itself is empty. thats why the sun doesn't light up all of space. it needs to reflect off of matter.

Answer 4

Is dark on the other side of the planet that is why time is diffirent in diffirent part of the world.

Answer 5

Cuz space is "space"--- nothing to reflect light. Planets are objects, they can reflect light.

Answer 6

We see the planets because they reflect sunlight to our eyes.

Sunlight can only reflect to our eyes if there is something to reflect off.  Space doesn't have enough matter in it to reflect sunlight.

However, there are nebulas in space (clouds of dust and gas) that are close enough to stars and dense enough that they do reflect starlight - they are called reflection nebula.

Answer 7

Yes, he does like any of the billions of stars that we see every night and are aware of. But at such enormous distances he appears like any of them, a bit dull by comparison. The fact is we are being illuminated by billions upon billions of stars (suns) most of which are hundreds and thousands of times brighter than our sun with enormous light outputs.

Answer 8

In that sense, the Sun doesn't "light up" the planets.  It radiates light out into space in all directions.  Space itself doesn't light up. as there is nothing there to reflect the light.  When a body such as a planet intercepts that light, it reflects that light so we can see it.

Answer 9

Because you can see something only if it generates light which enters your eyes, or reflects light which then enters your eyes.  Since there is nothing in the vaccuum of space to either generate its own light or to reflect light, it appears dark.

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Answer 10

Why does a lamp light up the objects in a room, but not all of the air? That's why.