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Constellations from the moon

  • 08-01-2009 11:49am
    #1
    FrDougalMcguire
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 283 ✭✭


    If I was standing on the moon, would the night sky look much different ie constellations etc?


Comments

  • #2
    murphyme
    Closed Accounts Posts: 45 ✭murphyme


    I wouldn't have thought so. The stars and even planets are much further away from the Earth then the Moon is.

    The main difference would be due to the lack of an atmosphere (no clouds etc.) so much better seeing and not having to wait until sunset to observe.


  • #3
    backboiler
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 368 ✭✭backboiler


    Look at it this way. Assume for a minute that the Sun is fixed in space - compared to the distances to the stars it is, over a human lifetime or so anyway. We orbit around the Sun once a year at a radius of about 150,000,000 km so in 6 months we'll be 300,000,000 km from where we are now. You can look up and see that the constellations don't change shape after moving that distance.
    Now the moon is only about 400,000 km from the Earth so you can see why, if moving 1,000 times that distance changes nothing, the view from the moon will be as good as the same from here.


  • #4
    Thargor
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,061 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    murphyme wrote: »
    I wouldn't have thought so. The stars and even planets are much further away from the Earth then the Moon is.

    The main difference would be due to the lack of an atmosphere (no clouds etc.) so much better seeing and not having to wait until sunset to observe.
    Didnt the Apollo Astronauts report that the sky is black when the sun is above the horizon though?


  • #5
    quickbeam
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 16,287 Mod ✭✭✭✭quickbeam


    Thargor wrote: »
    Didnt the Apollo Astronauts report that the sky is black when the sun is above the horizon though?

    I would suspect so. Our atmosphere scatters the light during the day and thus blocking out the stars. Without an atmosphere on the moon you should still be able to see the stars even during daytime.


  • #6
    Dr Pepper
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 841 ✭✭✭Dr Pepper


    I saw an old clip of Patrick Moore interviewing Neil Armstrong the other night and he said, that he could only see the Earth and the Sun.

    I'm sure you can see plenty during the 2 week-long lunar 'night' though... Especially on the what we call the dark side of the Moon (funnily enough, the 'dark' side gets just as much sunlight as the rest of the Moon - It's just that we never see it because the Moon always shows us the same face!).

    You'd definitely need your thermal underwear and a flask of hot tea mind you ;)


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