Two Worlds, One Sun
			
		
		
			Left Image Credit & Copyright:  
Damia Bouic;
		
		
			How different does sunset appear from Mars than from Earth?
For comparison, two images of our common star were taken at 
sunset, one from Earth and one from Mars.
These images were scaled to have same angular width and 
featured here side-by-side.
A quick inspection will reveal that the 
Sun appears slightly smaller from 
Mars than from 
Earth.
This makes sense since 
Mars is 50% further from the 
Sun than 
Earth.
More striking, perhaps, is that the 
Martian sunset is 
noticeably bluer 
near the Sun than the 
typically orange 
colors near the setting Sun from Earth.
The reason for the 
blue hues from Mars is 
not fully understood, but thought to be related to 
forward scattering properties of 
Martian dust.
The terrestrial sunset was taken in 2012 March from 
Marseille, 
France, while the Martian sunset was 
captured in 2015 by 
NASA's robotic 
Curiosity rover from 
Gale crater on 
Mars.
Last week a 
new rover and a 
helicopter -- onboard 
Mars 2020 -- 
launched for Mars.