Predicting the Martian Sky

Does anyone have the skills to predict the major celestial events for a
Martian observer - Sun rise, Sun set, maximum solar altitude, Earth
rise, Earth set etc.?

I'd be particularly interested the results for an observer on Isidis
Planitia...
--
David Entwistle

David Entwistle wrote:
Does anyone have the skills to predict the major celestial events for a
Martian observer

I can use Guide to do this. Do you want to email some specific requests?

Best,
Stephen

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David Entwistle wrote:

Does anyone have the skills to predict the major celestial events for a
Martian observer - Sun rise, Sun set, maximum solar altitude, Earth
rise, Earth set etc.?

There's a program called RedShift that can do some of that work for you (not
sure exactly how accurate it is). I've got a copy of RedShift 4 and a quick
look on Amazon tells me they've now released RedShift 5, costs are £14.99
and £19.99 respectively (and no, I'm not on commission)

I'd be particularly interested the results for an observer on Isidis
Planitia...

Punching in the details you've given, having today as the date, comes up
with these results (after a bit of tweaking with the sky maps & times):

Sun rise: 09:03 UTC
Sun set: 20:33 UTC
Max Altitude: Azm: 179 49' 43", Alt: +52 24' 49" @ 14:47 UTC

Earth rise: 06:12 UTC
Earth set: 17:40 UTC
Max Altitude: Azm: 179 59' 15", Alt: +52 30' 39" @ 11:56 UTC

Hope that's of some use to you.
--
Mark

In article , Stephen Tonkin news05footfro
writes

I can use Guide to do this. Do you want to email some specific requests?


Stephen,

Thanks for the offer, which I will be taking you up on. )

I'm interested in understanding Beagle 2's environment once it reaches
the surface.

I'll start a thread on the Beagle 2 yahoo group and invite contributions
there too. With a bit of team effort we may be able to build up a
reasonable picture.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beagle2/

--
David Entwistle

In article , Mark Allott
] writes

There's a program called RedShift

I'll look into getting a copy of that.

I'd be particularly interested the results for an observer on Isidis
Planitia...

Punching in the details you've given, having today as the date, comes up
with these results (after a bit of tweaking with the sky maps & times):

Sun rise: 09:03 UTC
Sun set: 20:33 UTC
Max Altitude: Azm: 179 49' 43", Alt: +52 24' 49" @ 14:47 UTC

Earth rise: 06:12 UTC
Earth set: 17:40 UTC
Max Altitude: Azm: 179 59' 15", Alt: +52 30' 39" @ 11:56 UTC

Hope that's of some use to you.

That's exactly the sort of information I'm looking for. I'm particularly
interested in details for the early days after Beagle lands on the
surface, scheduled to be the 25th December.

As mentioned to Stephen, I'll start a thread on the beagle 2 group and
invite contributions there.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beagle2/

--
David Entwistle

In article , Mark Allott
] writes

Hope that's of some use to you.

Mark,

Doug Ellison has pointed me to the following site, which also provides
the desired information for today.

http://www.marsbase.net/

It looks like you were pretty much spot on. Unfortunately the site
appears restricted to today's date. So I'm still looking for a
prediction for the 25th.

--
David Entwistle

Hi there Dave,

this may not be the full answer to your question, but if you
try out RedShift 5 program, this has the ability to view any direction
from 'any' where in the Solar System.

So, I think, it should be possible to become an observer 'on Mars'
and find interesting astronomical events using this program, for a Mars
located observer.

I don't know if RS5 is on general release yet, I've just been given a
'sample copy'
to try out, in the last few days.

I may yet generate a 'report' for the likes of people on uksa to view.

regards

Robert
"David Entwistle" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have the skills to predict the major celestial events for a
Martian observer - Sun rise, Sun set, maximum solar altitude, Earth
rise, Earth set etc.?

I'd be particularly interested the results for an observer on Isidis
Planitia...
--
David Entwistle

David

There is a link on that site to a Mars 24 application that gives info on the
landing sites. It may do what you want?
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/

Mark

"David Entwistle" wrote in message
...
In article , Mark Allott
] writes

Hope that's of some use to you.

Mark,

Doug Ellison has pointed me to the following site, which also provides
the desired information for today.

http://www.marsbase.net/

It looks like you were pretty much spot on. Unfortunately the site
appears restricted to today's date. So I'm still looking for a
prediction for the 25th.

--
David Entwistle

Mark Allott ] wrote:

Redshift gives:

Sun rise: 09:03 UTC
Sun set: 20:33 UTC
Max Altitude: Azm: 179 49' 43", Alt: +52 24' 49" @ 14:47 UTC

Earth rise: 06:12 UTC
Earth set: 17:40 UTC
Max Altitude: Azm: 179 59' 15", Alt: +52 30' 39" @ 11:56 UTC

Hope that's of some use to you.

Starry Night gives much the same - can't punch in earth rise/set times
though - bit of trial and error required. All times with flat horizon
- unlikely on Mars.

Cheers

Martin

--------------
Martin Frey
N 51 02 E 0 47
--------------

David Entwistle wrote:

In article , Mark Allott
] writes

Hope that's of some use to you.

Mark,

Doug Ellison has pointed me to the following site, which also provides
the desired information for today.

http://www.marsbase.net/

Thanks, I'll look into that a bit later on.

It looks like you were pretty much spot on. Unfortunately the site
appears restricted to today's date. So I'm still looking for a
prediction for the 25th.

Not bad for a little trial and error G.

Times for Dec 25th as follows:

Sun set: 07:18 UTC
Sun rise: 20:09 UTC
Sun set: 07:58 UTC (26-Dec)
Max Altitude: Azm: 179 59' 53", Alt: +60 54' 34" @ 02:03 UTC 26-Dec-2003

Earth set: 04:05 UTC
Earth rise: 17:23 UTC
Earth set: 04:45 UTC (26-Dec)
Max Altitude: Azm: 180 04' 56", Alt: +49 57' 32" @ 23:04 UTC

--
Mark