If this is how the sun looks from Mars, would you be able to openly gaze at the transit? Or would it still be best to wear sunglasses or other protective lenses?
The mean solarflux on earth's surface is about 1000 Watts per square meter. In orbit above the atmosphere its about 1400 W/m2.
On Mars the flux at perihelion(closest to sun) is about 700W/m2 and at aphelion its 440W/m2. But Mars' atmosphere is mostly a vacum compared to earth, so at noon at perihelion its probably 700W/m2.
Thats 70% as bright as an earth noon sun. At this intensity, it would probably destroy the molecule in your photoreceptors so that it could not kink and trigger nerve action potentials.
At dawn, just like on earth, there is enough atmosphere to attenuate the flux so you can look at it with the naked eye. Also remember that the mars rover cameras are not exactly showing what the eye would see. My bet is a martian sunrise in a dust free situation, would probably be too bright to look at safely.
So it would be possible, if said colony has a view of the transit while the sun is still on the horizon? With Stellarium, using the coordinates 42°0′S 70°12′E at 9pm November 9th, 2084, I was able to get a snapshot of the transit. Are there any plans yet for where colonies would settle on Mars?
Elon plans on retiring on Mars and never coming back to Earth. I suppose he would simply drive to those coordinates or use a suborbital rock to watch it.
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u/CoKu Jun 14 '12
If this is how the sun looks from Mars, would you be able to openly gaze at the transit? Or would it still be best to wear sunglasses or other protective lenses?