Talk:Astronomy on Mars

When you mention the rotation of Mars is slowing down near the end of the article you say the effect of Phobos is negligible (unlike the earth); the effect is due mainly to the sun. I would say entirely due to the sun since Phobos orbits Mars in less that one day. Phobos' effect would be to speed it up.

GA nomination
A few basic things mean that this doesn't meet the good article criteria - there is no lead section, and no references. More images would be good, as would a better arrangement of what's there - at the moment it looks cluttered and confused. Worldtraveller 21:37, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Anomalistic precession
I changed the figure for Earth from 21,000 years to 105,000 years - the shorter figure is that relative to the tropical year, a combination of both precessions. Also changed the figure for Mars to 43,000 years per added source. The way, the truth, and the light 05:52, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Three body problem?
I'd question the statement "An additional complication of the lunar distances method on Earth was the fact that the Moon's considerable mass and its greater distance from Earth makes determining its orbit a three-body problem beyond the capabilities of accurate computation by early astronomers." While I agree that accurate computations of the Moon's orbit was beyond early astronomers, I don't think this statement accurately describes the issues involved. See Ernest William Brown.-agr 14:15, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Stars
The sun is more distant than from Earth and therefore the sky is not so bright. The atmosphere ist much thinner. So, when it is possible under good circumstatins, the Venus is visible in the day from earth, so also the earth could be visible on a mars day, I imagine. Could it be also possible, that Venus and some bright stars as Sirius or Vega could be also seen in the midday from mars? --FrancescoA (talk) 11:10, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Defining seasons on Mars using cross-quarters
I notice that this article defines the four Martian seasons the same as on Earth, with the solstices and equinoxes marking the beginning of the season they are named after. However, since seasonal lag is nearly nonexistent on Mars, I find this definition to be contentious. May I suggest that seasonal boundaries be defined, instead, at the cross-quarter points that occur midway between the quarters? I realize that cross-quarter dates are not readily made available, but they could be easily derived by looking for the point where the line between Mars and the Sun makes a 45-degree angle with the line as it lies on the quarters; in other words, where the Sun's right ascension as seen from Mars is 45, 135, 225 and 315 degrees. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Karlbonner1982 (talk • contribs) 10:55, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
 * That's not how Wikipedia works. It's not about making things up. If you can find a reasonable source that discusses a definition of seasons on Mars, then you can add it to the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1000:B034:8046:1484:9974:A6FB:36E7 (talk) 20:26, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Daily minimum temperature
Can someone please confirm the statement: "temperature peak at local solar noon and reach a minimum at local midnight". Usually, here on earth the minimum is right before sunrise, not midnight. It seems odd that the night would warm up after midnight without the sun to heat it. --Hannodb (talk) 12:21, 15 August 2012 (UTC + 2) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.161.59.178 (talk)

External links modified
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Long-term variations
Where do the numbers in this section come from? The 171,000, 79,600 and 54,300? The only citation is to an article "The meteoroid fluence at Mars due to Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring)" which you can read in full here: - it doesn't discuss precession at all as far as I can see, word does not occur in the article, and these figures are not mentioned either.

Also does anyone have any idea what is meant by "add" here? ""On both Earth and Mars, these two precessions are in opposite directions, and therefore add, to make the precession cycle between the tropical and anomalistic years 21,000 years on Earth and 54,300 years on Mars.""

According to what definition of addition do 171,000 and 79,600 "add" to make 54,300? I'm not being sarcastic there. There are many ways to define addition in maths, e.g. vector addition, addition of rotations, etc etc, but I don't see how to do it to make those numbers add together to give the stated result. Robert Walker (talk) 19:28, 31 December 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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The color of the sky
"The normal hue of the sky during the daytime is a pinkish-red; (...) However, during the day the sky is a yellow-brown "butterscotch" color."

These two contradictory statements occur within the first 3 sentences of this section. Anyone care to clarify which is correct? Or, if both are true under different light conditions, clarify?

86.246.157.78 (talk) 12:11, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

Jupiter and Saturn
The article makes no mention of how Jupiter appears from Mars. In C.S. Lewis novel "Out of the Silent Planet", the metafictional writer Elwin Ransom describes Jupiter as being brighter from Mars, to the point it seems to light up the night at least as effectively as Earth is lit by a full moon. I don't believe Mars is appreciably that much closer to Jupiter to produce this effect, and it would occur perhaps once every seven years when Jupiter is at opposition to Mars. What would be Jupiter's visibility as seen from Mars? GBC (talk) 21:00, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Nighttime viewing?
I'm a bit surprised that there's no talk here of nighttime viewing conditions on Mars. Do nights tend to be overcast or clear? How much does the atmosphere (and weather) affect viewing conditions? Are dimmer stars visible on a clear night on Mars as compared to Earth? Schnitzi (talk) 10:04, 6 July 2022 (UTC)