Thought for sure you took that yourself Larry, was gonna ask you why you didn't invite me along on your trip to Mars. :)

When those little green dudes picked me up, they didn't give me any time to call anyone, LOL!

Don't you hate when the little green dudes rush you out the door, anally probe you, And then they don't even buy you dinner. Thanks for sharing this cool picture.

I can't say I like this...the middle part is all black..which draws your attention away from earth and the moon..along with the stars...sorry to say..

TokenArt

I'm with Token, the stars to the left look OK, but when the central image is otherwise blacked out the entire thing doesn't process in my head. I would think you're not seeing the central stars because the relative brightness of Earth and the Moon blinded the camera to the lesser points of light. Or the perspective is so different perhaps they're there but much smaller. I don't know, my brain is struggling with the optics in space.

You guys are taking this manipulated art way too serious. But since you brought it up, my thought was that the light from the Sun would cancel out any light from stars at some point.
This is an art piece based on reality, not a scientific photo to be anal-yzed.

Cool Shot, alot of enpty space (LOL), I agree if you cant manipulate, its not complete

It is striking in it's own right, and stands on it's own. IMHO it may be the drop from a crowded field of stars to dead zero that tricks the eye a bit, perhaps just a few 'brighter' stars in the mix would be good - very much a matter on personal taste though, this is a good manipulation and stands well on it's own, as is.

Rich

I like your picture tells alot about a person and their interest
take care and god bless you
Deana