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Credit & Copyright: Dennis Mammana
(Skyscapes)
Explanation:
On planet Earth, an analemma
is the figure-8 loop
you get when
you mark the position of the Sun at the same time each day
throughout the year.
But similarly marking the position of
the Sun in the Martian sky would produce the simpler,
stretched
pear shape in
this
digital illustration,
based on the Mars Pathfinder project's
famous Presidential Panorama
view from the surface.
The simulation shows the late
afternoon
Sun that would have been
seen from the
Sagan
Memorial Station once every 30 Martian
days (sols) beginning on Sol 24 (July 29, 1997).
Slightly less bright, the simulated Sun is only about one third
the size as seen from Earth, while the
Martian
dust, responsible for
the reddish sky of Mars, also scatters some blue light around
the solar disk.
Astronomer Dennis Mammana offers the illustration to mark
the hopeful beginning of an exciting new era of
robotic exploration
of the Red Planet, with two new
Mars missions
now enroute
and one preparing to launch.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: analemma - Mars - Sun - sky
Publications with words: analemma - Mars - Sun - sky
See also:
- APOD: 2024 September 9 Á Mars: Moon, Craters, and Volcanos
- APOD: 2024 September 2 Á A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun
- APOD: 2024 August 18 Á A Solar Prominence Eruption from SDO
- APOD: 2024 August 4 Á Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
- APOD: 2024 July 28 Á Sun Dance
- Prominences and Filaments on the Active Sun
- APOD: 2024 June 5 Á Shadow of a Martian Robot