Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: And that's ......us!!! - Raoul, I have to ask...

Earth and Moon from Mars

Courtesy of JPL's Solar System Simulator:

Earth from Mars

Luna from Mars

I couldn't find the actual date and time that Spirit took the photo, so I don't know if we really could "see the house form here". . . I picked 0000 UT on March 11 for the simulation. Notice the angle of illumination - that is, Earth (and Moon, because it was full from our p.o.v.) are waxing gibbous. Earthrise will be occuring a little earlier, thus closer to sunrise, each day as seen from Mars - with the amount of illumination increasing as the apparent diameter decreases with distance. In other words, just like Venus as seen from Earth.

Note also, the difference in Earth's and Luna's diameters - and remember how surprisingly dull the Moon has looked in previous photos of both bodies (Voyager 2, Galileo)? Off the top of my head, I have no idea what the average lunar albedo is, but it's a lot less than we assume from seeing it here.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (17 posts)