Stargazing on Mars

[Victor Boesen]

Yesterday I was watching some videos on youtube about the Space x program, and how we are going to send humans to Mars.

This got me thinking.. The people that are going to Mars must be looking at the stars at some point, so maybe we will se a martian star map in the future.
I was also thinking about how the milky way would look from there, because of the atmosphere being thinner, but I don't know if the amount of carbondioxide in the atmosphere would cause any trouble?

Victor Boesen

[Filroden]

What a great thought.

I think Mars is likely to have a greater diurnal temperature difference so maybe ground thermals would be an issue around dusk? Zero light pollution would be a great boon. A thinner and drier atmosphere would also reduce seeing effects, probably even better than the highest points on Earth.

There would be no need for a star map as there would be unobservable differences in star locations. However, new models for observing the rest of the solar system would be needed!

[alacant]

19 minutes ago, Victor Boesen said:

a martian star map

Nice topic. I think you'd be able to use the same star map as you did back on Earth. But I don't think CDC would work to slew your telescope over there. They should take the ascom devs over with them to update the software to Martian coordinates:)

[Victor Boesen]

4 minutes ago, Filroden said:

I think Mars is likely to have a greater diurnal temperature difference so maybe ground thermals would be an issue around dusk?

You could be on to something there, because often on mars you can see some clouds in the morning.

 

5 minutes ago, alacant said:

But I don't think CDC would work to slew your telescope over there

almost...

[r3i]

What about dust in the atmosphere, will this compromise the seeing conditions? The images from the rovers often look a bit hazy.

[Victor Boesen]

2 hours ago, r3i said:

What about dust in the atmosphere, will this compromise the seeing conditions? The images from the rovers often look a bit hazy.

I had that thought, but said to myself: "it can't be storming all the time, can it?"

But you could be right.

[saac]

Ok so no breathable atmosphere, eye poping low pressure, high levels of solar radiation, but fewer cloudy nights - what's not to like  

Jim

[Victor Boesen]

16 minutes ago, saac said:

what's not to like

Either you want the best skies, or the worst?

[Dave In Vermont]

Doesn't Stellarium have the ability to be tuned to be as though one were observing from the Martian surface? As well as all the other planets, too. I'll have to take a dive into 'Stella' at some point and check into doing this.

While rain or pellets of dry-ice wouldn't be a problem for the Martian 'tube-jockey,' you would risk sand and dust-devils. In 2003, Mars put on the "Show of the Century" for us Terrans. But the fun ended a bit prematurely when a dust(sand) storm blew over the entire visible surface of our neighbor. But even that was fun - watching the storm advancing until the full surface was obscured.

Mars, Ho!

Dave

[Mognet]

I haven't used it in years, but I know Celestia allows views from Mars and elsewhere https://celestiaproject.net/

[Scooot]

You can go into orbit around Mars (& most other things) in Sky Safari. This is a snapshot of one of the views. You can circle it and get a view from any point which gives you the sort of star map you'd see.

[DarkAntimatter]

Interesting to see earth imaged from a Martian scope. Before you leave earth, be sure to get your mounts manufacturer to change tracking to account for a Martian day, instead of an earth day. 

[kirkster501]

The star map would be identical to that on Earth other than for objects of the solar system.  The distance to Mars is far too small to make any difference to the way the stars look.  Indeed, even from Alpha Centauri, 4 light years away, the sky would look largely the same.  The Constellation of Cassiopeia would have the sun as an extra star at the end of one of arms of the "W".

[Anarchist II]

And you get a brand new observation challenge.......transit of Earth!!

[goodricke1]

Gotta wait till 2084 for the next one though

[VNA]

On 10/4/2017 at 13:19, saac said:

Ok so no breathable atmosphere, eye poping low pressure, high levels of solar radiation, but fewer cloudy nights - what's not to like  

Jim

Perchlorate chemicals that covers the soil unless you don't care about your thyroid!

https://www.space.com/21554-mars-toxic-perchlorate-chemicals.html