Size of Sun as seen from Mercury |
Size of Sun as seen from Mercury |
Jun 20 2011, 03:02 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 656 Joined: 20-April 05 From: League City, Texas Member No.: 285 |
I got to wondering about this, considered making my own graphic, then googled and came up with the following, from Burton Mackenzie's blog:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tlXkPX0vMqk/SaTW...ize_diagram.png So apparently the Sun appears about 3 times as large in Mercury's sky as it does on Earth. I was expecting something much more dramatic. |
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Jun 26 2011, 05:04 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
Well, most Earth art makes the moon way, way too big, so I'm not sure what space art is supposed to do. I do get a kick out of how when they show Saturn from any of its moons, artists frequently tilt the planet so the rings can be seen.
Another point on sizes--forgive me if this seems too obvious--but the area is propotional to the square of the diameter. So the sun is not 3x bigger at Mercury--it's 9x bigger. --Greg |
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