Why are the helmets of an astronauts reflective?
In: Physics
The Sun is **very bright** in space. Too bright for the austronaut’s eyes. Helmets have a reflective shield to cut out about 2/3 of the light. The shield can be stowed, so they can see when in the shadow of Earth, but pictures aren’t taken in the dark much, so you usually see it deployed in photos.
I believe (read: I could be wrong) that they are polarized like sunglasses to protect the astronauts eyes from sunlight. They are polarized to the extreme though, because the sun’s rays aren’t being filtered by earth’s atmosphere so they are much stronger.
Again, I could be wrong.
Simply put, for the same reason we wear sunglasses here on earth.
However, do remember that there is no atmosphere in space. Earth’s atmosphere blocks a portion of the suns light. When you’re outside of the atmosphere, you need extra protection if you’ll be facing the sun as you’re no longer getting that protection.
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