Earth transits the Sun as viewed from Mars in 2005?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the observation of Earth's transit across the Sun as viewed from Mars, specifically focusing on the event that occurred on November 7th, 2005. Participants explore the accuracy of this observation, its frequency, and the comparative sizes of Earth and Mars' moons during such an event.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes finding a transit of Earth during the November 7th, 2005 opposition of Mars and questions its accuracy and frequency.
  • Another participant provides links to NASA's Solar System Simulator and a list of observable Earth transits from Mars, suggesting these resources may confirm the event.
  • A participant humorously remarks on the timing of the response, indicating a light-hearted tone in the discussion.
  • One participant claims that Earth would appear the size of Phobos from Mars, while another counters this by providing detailed calculations showing that Earth appears significantly smaller than both Phobos and Deimos, even at close approaches.
  • Participants reference Wikipedia for additional context on the apparent sizes of celestial bodies as seen from Mars.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

There is no consensus on the perceived size of Earth during the transit as viewed from Mars, with differing opinions on its apparent size relative to Mars' moons. The discussion includes both technical calculations and humorous remarks, indicating a mix of serious inquiry and light-hearted banter.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty regarding the frequency of such transits and the accuracy of visual representations. The discussion includes assumptions about distances and sizes that may not be universally agreed upon.

Cecil
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So I was playing around with Celestia and watching last year's transit of Mercury and this year's transit of Venus. They seemed pretty accurate to diagrams I've seen for ingress/egress locations. Then I got an idea.

I flew to Mars and went looking for a transit of Earth, and to my surprise I found one, on the November 7th 2005 opposition of Mars (conjuction of Earth? )

Does anyone know if this is accurate, or how often an occurrence this is? It's a shame we won't be able to see it! :frown:
 
Astronomy news on Phys.org
5 years too late XD
 
And Earth, as seen from Mars, will appear the size of the full Phobos! :biggrin:
 
Earth appears significantly smaller than both Phobos and Deimos from Mars even when Mars is near perihelion and Earth near inferior conjunction (aka perihelion opposition of Mars). In the case of Phobos: Ratio of mean true diameters is ~ 12756 : 22.2 and ratio of Mars-centric distances is ~ 55 600 000 : 9 380, thus Earth is 575 times bigger but more than 5900 times further away from Mars than Deimos is, thus apparent diameter of Phobos is at least 10 times bigger than Earth's even in closest approaches of Earth and Mars such as that of August 2003. Consequently during a transit Deimos appears more than 100 times bigger spot than Earth does.

Just found on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Phobos_from_Mars
 
Last edited:
savage84 said:
Earth appears significantly smaller than both Phobos and Deimos from Mars even when Mars is near perihelion and Earth near inferior conjunction (aka perihelion opposition of Mars). In the case of Phobos: Ratio of mean true diameters is ~ 12756 : 22.2 and ratio of Mars-centric distances is ~ 55 600 000 : 9 380, thus Earth is 575 times bigger but more than 5900 times further away from Mars than Deimos is, thus apparent diameter of Phobos is at least 10 times bigger than Earth's even in closest approaches of Earth and Mars such as that of August 2003. Consequently during a transit Deimos appears more than 100 times bigger spot than Earth does.

Just found on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Phobos_from_Mars

It was a joke. A pun on the indefatigable https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=178918&highlight=mars+moon+myth".
 
Last edited by a moderator:

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