Have you ever wondered what the sky looks like on other planets? While we are used to Earth’s blue skies and colorful sunsets, things are quite different on other planets in our solar system. Let’s take a journey to explore the skies of Mars, Venus, and Mercury!
Mars, often called the Red Planet, has a sky that usually appears reddish-orange. This is because the Martian atmosphere is filled with dust made of iron oxide, or rust, which scatters red light. However, during sunset, something magical happens. The sky turns blue! This occurs because the sunlight passes through more dust at a sharper angle, scattering the red light and allowing the blue light to reach our eyes. It’s the opposite of what we see on Earth, where the sky is blue during the day and turns red or orange at sunset.
Venus has a very thick atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide (CO2), making it difficult to see the sun. In 1982, a Soviet probe called Venera 13 sent back images showing the sky and ground on Venus as yellow or orange. If you could see the sun through the thick clouds, it would rise in the west and set in the east because Venus spins in the opposite direction of its orbit around the sun.
Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, has almost no atmosphere. This means its sky is black, even during the day. The sun appears much larger in Mercury’s sky—at least 2.2 times bigger than it does from Earth. At certain times, it can look 3.2 times bigger! What’s even more fascinating is that the sun seems to behave strangely. On alternating years, at two specific points on Mercury, the sun comes directly overhead, pauses, and then continues moving westward. This happens because of Mercury’s unique rotation and orbit. One day on Mercury (a rotation) takes about 58.6 Earth days, while a year (an orbit around the sun) takes 87.9 Earth days. This results in one complete day-night cycle every two Mercurian years.
While you can’t stand on the gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, they have many moons with interesting features. These moons might have unique skies and landscapes of their own, waiting to be explored.
Exploring the skies of other planets helps us understand the diversity and wonder of our solar system. If you’re curious about more space topics, feel free to reach out to us on social media. Until next time, keep looking up and dreaming about the stars!
Imagine you’re standing on Mars during sunset. Use colored pencils, paints, or digital tools to create an artwork depicting the Martian sky as it transitions from reddish-orange to blue. Think about how the dust in the atmosphere affects the colors you see. Share your artwork with the class and explain the science behind the colors you chose.
Conduct a simple experiment to understand how Venus’s thick atmosphere affects visibility. Use a flashlight to represent the sun and a clear container filled with water and milk to simulate Venus’s atmosphere. Shine the light through the mixture and observe how the light changes. Discuss why the sky on Venus appears yellow or orange.
Work in groups to create a model demonstrating Mercury’s unique day-night cycle. Use a globe and a lamp to represent Mercury and the sun. Rotate the globe to show how Mercury’s rotation and orbit affect the sun’s movement in its sky. Present your findings to the class, highlighting why the sun appears to pause in the sky.
Choose one of the moons of the outer planets and design a mission to explore its sky and landscape. Consider what kind of spacecraft or rover you would need, and what scientific instruments would be important. Present your mission plan to the class, explaining what you hope to discover about the moon’s atmosphere and sky.
Create a comparison chart that highlights the differences in the skies of Earth, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Include information about atmospheric composition, sky color, and any unique phenomena. Use this chart to discuss with your classmates how these differences affect what you would see if you were standing on each planet.
Here’s a sanitized version of the YouTube transcript:
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Pictures from Curiosity just came back, and they show that Mars’s skies are blue at sunset. During the rest of the day, they appear orange, which is the exact opposite of Earth. What is going on?
Greetings, everyone! Julian here for DNews from YouTube Space Lab. Let’s be honest: if you’re watching this, you’ve probably imagined what it would be like to travel to distant worlds. But while you’re lost in your daydreams, have you ever considered what it would be like just to look up at the sky? We spend our whole lives under the same sky, so it’s hard to fathom anything else. Even in “Interstellar,” a massive imaginative sci-fi movie, the skies of the three exoplanets still look pretty Earth-like.
As it turns out, the view from the surface of another planet can be quite surreal. Let’s talk about the four rocky planets in our solar system, the ones where you can actually stand on solid ground. We’ll start with Mars and work our way in. Mars’s skies usually look reddish-orange due to dust made of iron oxide, commonly known as rust, which is everywhere. This dust gives the surface of the planet its color and scatters red light in the thin atmosphere, turning the whole sky red. However, at sunset, as the sun gets closer to the horizon, the sky around it looks blue. This happens because sunlight travels through more dust at a sharper angle, scattering more red light while allowing blue light to reach our eyes.
It’s actually the same process that occurs here on Earth. The difference is in the makeup of the atmosphere; nitrogen and oxygen scatter shorter wavelengths better. If our eyes were more sensitive to violet light, the sky would actually look purplish-blue. Conversely, at sunset, the reds and oranges reach us because they aren’t filtered out, making for beautiful sunsets—unless you’re on Venus.
Venus has an extremely thick atmosphere composed mostly of CO2, making it impossible to see the sun through it. In 1982, the Soviet probe Venera 13 sent back colored photos from the surface of Venus, showing the sky and ground appearing yellow or orange. If you could see the sun through the gas, it would appear to rise in the west and set in the east because Venus spins counter to its orbit.
Now, if you think that’s interesting, wait until you hear about Mercury. Mercury has almost no atmosphere, so the sky doesn’t scatter any colors and looks black even during the day. However, the most surprising aspect would be the sun. It would appear at least 2.2 times bigger in the sky than it does from Earth, and during certain times, it could look 3.2 times bigger.
Even weirder, the sun would seem to have a mind of its own. There are two points on opposite sides of Mercury where, on alternating years, the sun would come directly overhead, pause, and then continue moving westward while shrinking again. This phenomenon occurs due to the unique interplay between Mercury’s rotation speed and the shape of its orbit. One rotation around Mercury’s axis takes about 58.6 Earth days, while one orbit around the sun takes 87.9 Earth days. This means one Mercurian year is exactly 1.5 Mercurian days, resulting in one complete day-night cycle every two Mercurian years.
Now that we’ve explored Mercury’s unique sky, the rest of the planets seem to have calmed down, which is good because it’s possible that Jupiter once went through a wild phase. This motion could have cleared the way for the four inner planets we have now. While you can’t really stand on the gas giants of the outer solar system, they do have many solid moons with interesting features.
If you want us to cover those or any other space-related topics, let us know in the comments or find us on Facebook or Twitter at DNews. I’ll see you next time!
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This version removes any informal language and maintains a more polished tone while preserving the original content’s meaning.
Sky – The region of the atmosphere and outer space seen from Earth. – On a clear night, the sky is filled with stars and planets.
Mars – The fourth planet from the Sun, known for its reddish appearance. – Scientists are exploring Mars to find signs of past life.
Venus – The second planet from the Sun, known for its bright appearance and thick clouds. – Venus is often called Earth’s “sister planet” because of its similar size and composition.
Mercury – The closest planet to the Sun, known for its extreme temperatures. – Mercury has a very thin atmosphere, which means it cannot retain heat.
Atmosphere – The layer of gases surrounding a planet. – Earth’s atmosphere protects us from harmful solar radiation.
Sunlight – The light and energy that come from the Sun. – Sunlight is essential for life on Earth, providing energy for plants to grow.
Clouds – Visible masses of condensed water vapor floating in the atmosphere. – Clouds can block sunlight, making the day cooler.
Orbit – The curved path of an object around a star, planet, or moon. – Earth takes about 365 days to complete one orbit around the Sun.
Rotation – The spinning of a planet or moon on its axis. – Earth’s rotation causes day and night as different parts of the planet face the Sun.
Moons – Natural satellites that orbit planets. – Jupiter has many moons, with Ganymede being the largest in the solar system.
