A question for you about watching the sun from the moon

[mdstuart]

I was asked this the other day and I was not sure...

The sun rises very slowly if you were on the moon....no atmosphere so would you see the corona rise first and maybe some flares before the actual sun comes up?

Why are there no pictures of this from Apollo.....

Perhaps when they put the moon base on the south pole we will find out...

[Dave Smith]

I asked a similar question of Helen Sharman (British Astronaut) after a lecture she gave. What I asked was did she try holding her hand to shield the Sun and see the corona. Her response was that she and no one else had thought of it. I suspect part of the reason is that with no atmosphere the Sun will be so bright that you simply don't look in that direction. I personally believe that you would see the corona and prominences just before sunrise.

Dave

[mik]

Have a look at this apollo image

http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/sunrise_apollo_big.jpg

Mick.

[Tim]

Couldnt the guys on the ISS do this several times a day?????

TJ

[Milamber]

Couldnt the guys on the ISS do this several times a day?????

TJ

Only if they are seriously lost - ISS is in orbit about the Earth, not the Moon

Arthur

[barkis]

I know the moon can just fit into the suns disc during some eclipses, but if that image is from lunar orbit, and the earth is eclipsing the sun, it looks like it's going to be a perfect fit, where I would have thought the size of the earth would be a lot larger than the suns disc. We are viewing the the event from almost the same distance as we would a lunar eclipse.

The moon is 31 minutes of arc approx. What size is the earth from the moon?

Ron.