I Would you see stars on the early Earth?

[windy miller]

Im wondering what the night sky would look like if you stood on the surface of the Earth as it was forming?
Here is my best guess, I would like to know if I am on the right track
1. After it cooled down, it had no atmosphere so it would be like the surface of the moon so the stars wouldn't twinkle.
2 outgassing from volcanoes gradually started to make an atmosphere but then things start to get complicated . it seems there isn't agreement on how think the atmosphere was initially , see article below:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/early-earth-s-atmosphere-was-surprisingly-thin/
Im wondering if you could still see the stars at night even with the thicker atmosphere model or not?

 

[nikkkom]

Im wondering what the night sky would look like if you stood on the surface of the Earth as it was forming?
Here is my best guess, I would like to know if I am on the right track
1. After it cooled down, it had no atmosphere so it would be like the surface of the moon so the stars wouldn't twinkle.

I think there was plenty of outgassing as Earth was forming, and atmosphere was already rather significant. Possibly denser than our current one.

 

[windy miller]

I think there was plenty of outgassing as Earth was forming, and atmosphere was already rather significant. Possibly denser than our current one.

Thanks for your answer. Would it be so dense to block out all the stars, maybe even the sun itself? Given the article I linked should we think it wasn't so dense or is this seen as not the conventional view?

 

[stefan r]

Has the Earth was forming there was an extensive comet barrage in progress. The zodiacal light would have been intense. Lots of lights to decease view of stars. If the moon was still forming the ring of dust would block a lot. Also moon was much closer so a full moon would drown out more stars the it does now.

With oceans steaming off it would have bee cloudy a lot.

 

[windy miller]

thanks that's very interesting. What about the Sun , even with the cloud do you thin it would block out the sun?

 

[rootone]

While Earth's surface was still hot, any water present would only be able to exist as water vapor in the atmosphere.
There could have been enough to to produce a thick permanent cloud layer with other gases and particulates mixed in.
Similar to how Venus is at present.

 

[windy miller]

What about the proximity of the moon? I am thinking it was v close to Earth in its early history so maybe even if there was a thick cloud layer it would have been bright enough to see due this proximity? Do you think this is right?

 

[rootone]

On Venus sunlight does reach the surface as a diffused ambient light.
For a cloud covered Earth, a very close Moon (as well as the Sun) could produce ambient light.at the surface.
Other stars and bodies however would not be visible at all.
You could determine that there is a light source or two, but would not be able to see them as objects in the ordinary sense of seeing

 

[windy miller]

Yes I wasn't really thinking about an ambient light source, but a discernable shape. I know that at full moon with some cloud cover i can see the shape fo the moon through the clouds. So the ability to discern the shape of the moon will depend not just on the cloud cover but also the brightness of the moon. On the Early Earth the moon would have been amazingly bright as it was so close. So perhaps it could have had a discernable shape.