Red Dawn. Red Sky

In message , Pat Flannery
writes


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.

The light during a deep partial eclipse is weird, but did you think it
was more _blue_ than usual ? (and hence the opposite of a Martian sky)
I've seen that, and I wonder if it is some psychological effect. The
fading light looks like sunset, so you expect it to be red, but it isn't
because it isn't losing the blue colour as in a sunset.
--
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Jonathan Silverlight
wrote in :

In message , Pat Flannery
writes


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.

The light during a deep partial eclipse is weird, but did you think it
was more _blue_ than usual ? (and hence the opposite of a Martian sky)
I've seen that, and I wonder if it is some psychological effect. The
fading light looks like sunset, so you expect it to be red, but it
isn't
because it isn't losing the blue colour as in a sunset.

My experience with the annular solar eclipse in Atlanta was strange, too.
I don't know how to describe the color of the sky; wasn't deep blue nor
violet, I just know I'd never seen quite that shade before. It never
got twilight dark, but it was strange for about a minute. I'd expected
it to get darker than it did.

--Damon

In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote:
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.

Bear in mind that you'd need an awful lot of lights in that room to match
even Mars daylight. It's dimmer than Earth daylight, yes, but still
immensely brighter than the usual indoor artificial lighting.

My prediction would be that three days after arriving, everyone will have
stopped noticing that the sunlight isn't as bright as at home. The color
differences will take longer to get used to.
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...


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.)

I don't recall anything like that, but that's not to say it didn't happen. I
remember that shadows seemed all wrong. The light was dim, but shadows were
not long as they are at sunset.

Does the air suddenly cool down during an eclipse? If it does, that might
affect sound travel and wind enough to be noticeable.

Damon Hill wrote:

My experience with the annular solar eclipse in Atlanta was strange, too.
I don't know how to describe the color of the sky; wasn't deep blue nor
violet, I just know I'd never seen quite that shade before. It never
got twilight dark, but it was strange for about a minute. I'd expected
it to get darker than it did.


I think what happens is that the darkening occurs so slowly that your
eye adjusts for it as it occurs by slowly opening your iris, and you
don't realize just how low the light level is the way that you would if
it happened suddenly. And yes, the sky does take on a very odd shade
that's hard to describe.

Pat

Henry Spencer wrote:


My prediction would be that three days after arriving, everyone will have
stopped noticing that the sunlight isn't as bright as at home. The color
differences will take longer to get used to.


That's something they will have to address in regards to labeling of
equipment, particularly in regards to the use of standard "warning" and
system-related colors. Of course the UV protective coatings on the suit
helmets probably skew the spectrum also.
I don't think it will be a major problem, anymore than the color shift
caused by wearing sunglasses on Earth is.

Pat

Neil Gerace wrote:


I don't recall anything like that, but that's not to say it didn't happen. I
remember that shadows seemed all wrong. The light was dim, but shadows were
not long as they are at sunset.

Does the air suddenly cool down during an eclipse? If it does, that might
affect sound travel and wind enough to be noticeable.


Ours happened on a fairly warm winter day, so yes, it might of had some
effect like that; mayhaps my perceptions of the event were colored by
the "mystical" feeling involved in it.
I did look directly at it by the way, despite all the terrible warnings
about burning my retinas- I'm pretty sure that very few people indeed
have been able to resist the temptation to look directly at it for at
least a few seconds.

Pat

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 18:30:08 -0500, "Jeff Lerner"
wrote:

After thousands of years of looking at blue skies, are there any anticipated
psychological challenges awaiting Martian astronauts

Where did you find an astronaut who is thousands of years old? :-)

Brian

Brian Thorn wrote:


Where did you find an astronaut who is thousands of years old? :-)




Be careful...somebody's going to make a Science Fiction Channel movie
from this idea.... ;-)

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...


Henry Spencer wrote:


My prediction would be that three days after arriving, everyone will have
stopped noticing that the sunlight isn't as bright as at home. The color
differences will take longer to get used to.


That's something they will have to address in regards to labeling of
equipment, particularly in regards to the use of standard "warning" and
system-related colors. Of course the UV protective coatings on the suit
helmets probably skew the spectrum also.
I don't think it will be a major problem, anymore than the color shift
caused by wearing sunglasses on Earth is.

Actually I recall the first time I hiked with an LED headlamp at night.
Suddenly dawned on me that any trail markers would look a different color
than I expected... but I wasn't quite sure HOW they would look different.

There's a distinct difference in the way things look from a normal
incandescent flashlight bulb and an LED one. Takes a little getting used
to.



Pat