May 12, 2015
The atoms in your body have known many forms: star core, drifting dust, ocean mineral, living cell.
Two Worlds, One Sun
Birthday · May 12, 2015
A little universe, just for you
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APOD published May 12, 2015. Credit: Damia Bouic; Right Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS; Digital processing: Damia Bouic. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
How different does sunset appear from Mars than from Earth? For comparison, two images of our common star were taken at sunset, one from Earth and one from Mars. These images were scaled to have same angular width and featured here side-by-side. A quick inspection will reveal that the Sun appears slightly smaller from Mars than from Earth. This makes sense since Mars is 50% further from the Sun than Earth. More striking, perhaps, is that the Martian sunset is noticeably bluer near the Sun than the typically orange colors near the setting Sun from Earth. The reason for the blue hues from Mars is not fully understood, but thought to be related to forward scattering properties of Martian dust. The terrestrial sunset was taken in 2012 March from Marseille, France, while the Martian sunset was captured last month by NASA's robotic Curiosity rover from Gale crater on Mars.
Image credit: Damia Bouic; Right Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS; Digital processing: Damia Bouic