by BDanielMayfield » Sun Aug 12, 2018 1:08 pm
FLPhotoCatcher wrote: ↑Sun Aug 12, 2018 3:34 am
Ok, time to change the subject a bit?
Could a Martian ever see the sun eclipsed by the Earth? What about the Earth and Moon?
Not with her naked eyes, provided that Martians even have eyes.
Just as we can sometimes see (with optical aids) our inner planets Mercury and Venus pass across the sun's disc, someone on Mars could occasionally see those planets as well as the Earth passing in front of Sol. But such rare events, also called occultations, aren't near as noticeable as the much more common eclipses involving our Moon are here on Earth. Lunar and solar eclipses here can be spectacularly noticeable due to the effects of the Moon and the Sun
appearing to be just about the same size from our vantage point on Earth.
But the Sun is about 108 times Earth's diameter, so seeing the Earth or slightly smaller Venus drifting across the face of the Sun from Mars would require magnification and filtering, and even more magnification might be needed to watch the smaller Mercury and Luna occult the Sun.
As for Earth and Moon, yes, a well equipped Martian could on very rare occasions observe both Earth and our Moon passing across the Sun at the same time. But due to orbital tilts, alignments and such some events would involve just our Moon, some just Earth, and some the Moon and then the Earth or vise versa.
Bruce
[quote=FLPhotoCatcher post_id=284909 time=1534044872 user_id=139392]
Ok, time to change the subject a bit?
Could a Martian ever see the sun eclipsed by the Earth? What about the Earth and Moon?
[/quote]
Not with her naked eyes, provided that Martians even have eyes. :wink:
Just as we can sometimes see (with optical aids) our inner planets Mercury and Venus pass across the sun's disc, someone on Mars could occasionally see those planets as well as the Earth passing in front of Sol. But such rare events, also called occultations, aren't near as noticeable as the much more common eclipses involving our Moon are here on Earth. Lunar and solar eclipses here can be spectacularly noticeable due to the effects of the Moon and the Sun [u]appearing[/u] to be just about the same size from our vantage point on Earth.
But the Sun is about 108 times Earth's diameter, so seeing the Earth or slightly smaller Venus drifting across the face of the Sun from Mars would require magnification and filtering, and even more magnification might be needed to watch the smaller Mercury and Luna occult the Sun.
As for Earth and Moon, yes, a well equipped Martian could on very rare occasions observe both Earth and our Moon passing across the Sun at the same time. But due to orbital tilts, alignments and such some events would involve just our Moon, some just Earth, and some the Moon and then the Earth or vise versa.
Bruce