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Earth and the Moon as seen in the Martian night sky photographed by NASA's Curiosity rover at Gale Crater
on Friday, January 31, 2014 about 80 minutes after local sunset during its 529th day on the Martian surface.
The Moon is only barely visible just below the bright Earth in close-up.
Image courtesy of NASA/JPL.
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Imagine you were a human settler living on the planet Mars, the forth planet in our Solar System, in possibly as few as a couple hundred years from the present day.
You're walking outside the pressurized habitats built by the first and second generations born on Mars -- or possibly even domed terrariums as the first stages of the long process of terraforming the Red Planet are just beginning -- and stand out on the surface looking up at the evening sky.
Its about an hour following the beautiful blue Martian sunset in the crimson sky over the slightly closer horizon of the vast rust-colored desert planet and the first of the brightest objects appear overhead.
First would be the two moons: the larger, potato-shaped Phobos, and the smaller bright Deimos (both of which are also visible during the daylight hours). After these would come the first bright spots low in the evening sky -- our own planet Earth and its faint companion, our bright, beautiful Moon.
On average the distance between Earth and Mars is about 140 million miles (or 225 million kilometers). From the surface of Mars, a hypothetical Martian would see our Earth the same way that we Earthlings view the planet Venus: as an inner planet, because Earth is in a closer and faster orbit to the Sun. Because of this, Earth, as seen from Mars, appears as a bright morning or evening "star" as Venus does here on Earth.
Also, from the surface of Mars, our lovely Luna (Moon), though appearing very faint, can actually be seen with the naked eye (or more likely through the safety glass plate of a pressure suit).
Because our Moon only averages a distance of about 238,855 miles (or 384,400 kilometers) in its orbit around our Earth, from the surface of Mars looking up into the night sky dome, Earth and the Moon would only appear to be separate by less than a degree (or, roughly just under the length of your pinky finger held at arms length) most of the time. So close together that the two heavenly bodies appear to be constantly in conjunction with one another, appearing to be a "twin star" in the evening and morning Martian skies.
A hypothetical Martian would also be able to see the Moon orbit the Earth, even see both heavenly bodies transit each other (pass in front of, or behind, the other) at certain times of the long Martian year in their orbit.
Thanks to modern science, we are able to view that magnificent sight or our home planet from another world right here from Earth via photographs taken from the surface of Mars by exploration rovers sent by us humans to study the possibility of human exploration (and possible future colonization) of our closest planetary neighbor -- as shown in the photo used for this article.
Through the yes of these robotic explorers we can see our own Earth and its beautiful Moon in a way that early humans looking up at the night sky could never have imagined; that only God, and perhaps maybe non-human intelligence beyond our Solar System, could ever have seen humanity's home before.
All the same, maybe someday soon Earth-born explorers in the coming decades -- and perhaps future generations of Martian-born humans hundreds of years from now -- will see that beautiful sight of our lovely Earth and Moon from the surface of the Red Planet with their own eyes with that same sense of wonder that us night sky observers here on Earth view the other planets in our Solar System?
