Red Dawn. Red Sky

After thousands of years of looking at blue skies, are there any anticipated
psychological challenges awaiting Martian astronauts waking up to a red dawn
and looking at red skies all Martian day ?? From pictures taken by the
various Martian landers we get an idea as to what a Martian day looks like.
Kind of strikes me as an overcast look to it. I know how I feel after a few
days of no sunshine, cloudy skies. Will Martian astronauts have to deal with
the "blue-less sky" blues ??

Jeff Lerner

"Jeff Lerner" wrote in message
...
After thousands of years of looking at blue skies, are there any
anticipated
psychological challenges awaiting Martian astronauts waking up to a red
dawn
and looking at red skies all Martian day ?? From pictures taken by the
various Martian landers we get an idea as to what a Martian day looks
like.
Kind of strikes me as an overcast look to it. I know how I feel after a
few
days of no sunshine, cloudy skies. Will Martian astronauts have to deal
with
the "blue-less sky" blues ??

Unlikely since most pictures from Mars tend to falsely shift the color
spectrum to the red.

Look at the latest Discover for an article on this. The sky is far more
blue than most pictures make it look.



Jeff Lerner

"Jeff Lerner" wrote:

I know how I feel after a few days of no sunshine, cloudy skies. Will
Martian astronauts have to deal with the "blue-less sky" blues ??

After months cooped up inside the spacecraft, I warrant that *any* sky
will be welcome. I suspect the greatest time of spatial stress will
be when the re-coop and start home.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

"Jeff Lerner" wrote in
:

After thousands of years of looking at blue skies, are there any
anticipated psychological challenges awaiting Martian astronauts
waking up to a red dawn and looking at red skies all Martian day ??
From pictures taken by the various Martian landers we get an idea as
to what a Martian day looks like. Kind of strikes me as an overcast
look to it. I know how I feel after a few days of no sunshine, cloudy
skies. Will Martian astronauts have to deal with the "blue-less sky"
blues ??

I've seen plenty of plenty of colorful dawns and sunsets; I live in
the Pacific Northwet, famous for its cloudy weather (but not in
summer!). Darkness and low light levels do have a depressing effect
on many people. I expect Martian explorers will get used to whatever
conditions are present, though maybe NASA should investigate how
to most efficiently concentrate coffee/caffiene...

--Damon

Jeff Lerner wrote:

After thousands of years of looking at blue skies, are there any anticipated
psychological challenges awaiting Martian astronauts waking up to a red dawn
and looking at red skies all Martian day ?? From pictures taken by the
various Martian landers we get an idea as to what a Martian day looks like.
Kind of strikes me as an overcast look to it. I know how I feel after a few
days of no sunshine, cloudy skies. Will Martian astronauts have to deal with
the "blue-less sky" blues ??

That might make an interesting study- stick some volunteers into a
reddish low light room for a few weeks and see if they have any unusual
psychological responses.
It's going to make a difference in color perception, particularly if
their spacecraft uses Earth-type colored light inside.
I was at a party once where the room was lit by a red neon fixture; on
going outside the Moon appeared to be bright green.

Pat

Damon Hill wrote:

I've seen plenty of plenty of colorful dawns and sunsets; I live in
the Pacific Northwet, famous for its cloudy weather (but not in
summer!). Darkness and low light levels do have a depressing effect
on many people. I expect Martian explorers will get used to whatever
conditions are present, though maybe NASA should investigate how
to most efficiently concentrate coffee/caffiene...


If you've ever been in a partial eclipse of the sun on a clear day where
most of the sun's disk gets eclipsed, you might have experienced
something similar to Martian lighting conditions; the effect is
completely different than that of a thin cirrus overcast, in that the
light stays sharply focused and the shadows things cast are sharp- but
the whole contrast between light and shadow is decreased.
It's a very odd sensation, and could take some getting used to. When I
was a kid this happened to me once....and I thought it was the end of
the world starting.

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...
If you've ever been in a partial eclipse of the sun on a clear day where
most of the sun's disk gets eclipsed, you might have experienced something
similar to Martian lighting conditions; the effect is completely different
than that of a thin cirrus overcast, in that the light stays sharply
focused and the shadows things cast are sharp- but the whole contrast
between light and shadow is decreased.
It's a very odd sensation, and could take some getting used to. When I was
a kid this happened to me once....and I thought it was the end of the
world starting.

Yes, I noticed that weird lighting during the eclipse of 4 Dec 2002.

Neil Gerace wrote:

Yes, I noticed that weird lighting during the eclipse of 4 Dec 2002.

Did you notice an odd stillness, like sound was being deadened and the
wind dying? I noticed that during the total eclipse that went through
North Dakota in 1979. (I'd been waiting around for that one ever since I
was a kid- I only had to drive around 150 miles to see it. Won't have
another one in the state till 2044.)


Pat

Hi all


"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...

original post snipped

That might make an interesting study- stick some volunteers into a
reddish low light room for a few weeks and see if they have any unusual
psychological responses.
It's going to make a difference in color perception, particularly if
their spacecraft uses Earth-type colored light inside.
I was at a party once where the room was lit by a red neon fixture; on
going outside the Moon appeared to be bright green.

I might be misinformed here but don't military vessels switch to red light
during combat situations to add the crew's night vision?

Or is this a myth or no longer done, or what?

If this is true what are the testimonies and results that can be gleaned
from the people who have already worked (potentitally) hundreds of hours
under these conditions?



Pat


If you are worried about people wanting to see a blue sky or green plants or
what ever send along colour filters to stick over the winds and lots of pots
and soil. Keep the crew busy while the Martian weather is being
uncooperative, or while someone is restricted to light duties for health
reasons.

Regards
Frank Scrooby

"Frank Scrooby" wrote:

I might be misinformed here but don't military vessels switch to red light
during combat situations to add the crew's night vision?

They switch to red light at nightime wherever the crew might have to
go outside, whether in combat or no. Going back and forth from the
red-lit areas to regularly lit areas never seemed to pose a great
problem for me, but I don't recall ever spending more than an hour or
three on the conn when rigged for red.

The control room of the submarine was rigged for red at night in case
we needed to use the periscope. If we were actually using the
periscope, we were rigged for black in the control room. (*No* area
lighting and dimmers on important instrumentation turned down to the
bottom stop. Unimportant instrumentation was simply turned off.)

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL