Our solar system is amazing beautiful place. And thanks to modern telescopes and spacecraft, we can enjoy the volcanoes of Mercury, the crimson plains of Mars, the beautiful rings of Saturn, and even the dark icy desert of Pluto.

Illustrator Ron Miller worked with NASA experts to recreate photographs of sunrises and sunsets that we - theoretically - could see on Earth. different planets-neighbors of the Earth.

This is what the Sun looks like on the surface of Mercury. The distance between the two celestial bodies is 58 million kilometers.

Here is Venus covered with volcanoes and lava. Its atmosphere consists almost entirely of carbon dioxide, so there is a constant thunderstorm, hellish heat and almost no sun visible. The distance to it is 108 million kilometers.

Here is a rare photo of the Sun from Earth during an eclipse. Distance – 150 million kilometers.
This is what a sunny day on Mars looks like. The distance from the planet to the star is 228 million kilometers.

Here's what you would see on Jupiter. The sun seems small: the distance is 779 million kilometers. The view is blocked by Europa, Jupiter's largest satellite.

Here's what you might see on Saturn if you got there. The distance to the Sun is 1.43 billion kilometers.

And this is what dawn looks like on Uranus. The Sun is 2.88 billion kilometers from here, but nearby is Ariel, the main “Moon” of Uranus.

And this is the surface of Neptune. A huge Triton (satellite), huge geysers on the surface, ice and a tiny sun, which, nevertheless, is clearly visible. Distance – 4.5 billion kilometers.

And finally, here's what you would see on Pluto. From here to the Sun is 5.91 billion kilometers.

The sun can confidently be called the most familiar part of our sky. But if fate had brought us to other planets of the solar system, we would have seen it completely differently. The figure below shows the comparative apparent sizes of the star from the eight planets of the solar system and Pluto.

The most impressive sight would be revealed to us on Mercury. The apparent diameter of the Sun in its sky is 2.5 times greater than on Earth. In addition, since Mercury has no atmosphere, an observer on its surface would be able to see the true color of the star. The fact is that the real color of the Sun is white. It appears yellow to us due to the scattering of light in the earth's atmosphere. Once we go beyond it, we see a white ball.

On Venus we are unlikely to be able to admire the Sun. Its clouds are so thick that it is simply not visible. But if we were somehow able to examine the luminary, we would immediately notice two oddities. Since Venus rotates very slowly (its day lasts 243 Earth days), it would seem to us that the Sun is simply hanging at the same point in the sky. It would take days, or even weeks, to notice its movement. Well, since the planet rotates retrograde, on Venus dawn is in the west and sunset is in the east.

The Martian day lasts 24.5 hours, so the cycle of day and night there is quite familiar to earthlings. The apparent diameter of the Sun in the sky of the red planet is about 60% of that on Earth. You can imagine what the Martian Sun looks like from the images of Mars rovers. Its color is believed to be white with a slight purple tint. It is also worth saying that due to the scattering of light in the dusty atmosphere, Martian sunrises and sunsets are not the usual yellow-red color, but blue.

As for the outer part of our system, the further we move away from Mars, the more the Sun becomes like just a very bright star. It is believed that the limit at which the naked eye can no longer distinguish its shape is approximately one minute of arc. So in the vicinity of Uranus and Neptune only a person with very sharp vision could see the sun's disk. On the former ninth planet this would not have happened. But all this does not mean at all that the kingdom of eternal night is on Pluto. When a dwarf planet is at perihelion, the Sun in its sky emits 400 times more light than full moon. This is roughly comparable to the light conditions at mid-latitudes about 10 minutes after sunset. You won’t get a tan, of course, but you can see everything quite well.

Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And VKontakte

The sun is something without which it is impossible to imagine life on our planet. We all love to remember gorgeous sunsets and sunrises that we simply couldn’t tear ourselves away from. But can we imagine what the celestial body looks like on other planets? Digital illustrations created by Ron Miller, who has spent decades depicting outer space, will help us do just that.

website invites you to travel and find out how the Sun appears on each of the 8 other planets.

Mercury

Mercury is 60 million km away from the Sun. This is 39% of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. And the dawn on Mercury is 3 times brighter than on Earth.

Venus

The Sun, which is “almost” visible from Venus, is located at a distance of 108 million km (72% of the distance from the Earth to the Sun). Because of the thick gas clouds, it looks like a spot on a cloudy day.

Mars

The Sun is located at a distance of 230 million km from the Red Planet, and this is 1.5 times the distance between the Sun and Earth. But it’s not the distance that prevents you from seeing it, but the dusty winds rising right into the atmosphere.

Jupiter

And this is what the Sun looks like from the surface of Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. Jupiter is further away: the distance is 779 million km (which is 5.2 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun). Sunlight, passing through the layers of the atmosphere, illuminates it with a ring of red light.

Saturn

Saturn is perhaps one of the most recognizable planets. The Sun is separated from Saturn by 1.5 billion km (the distance is 9.5 times greater than between our planet and the Sun), but this makes the star shine no less brightly. Rays from water crystals and gases are refracted, creating incredible optical effects such as halos and false suns.

Let's start with Mercury. Mercury is an extremely hot world because it is very close to the Sun and has no atmosphere to shield it from the sun's heat. The lack of atmosphere determines what Mercury's sky looks like. The stars on Mercury are visible only at night; during the day they are not visible due to the fact that the Sun shines very brightly and outshines the stars with its brilliance. The solar disk is approximately three times larger than that of Earth. Temperature at night -180, during the day +430.

There is very interesting feature Mercury sky. Once a Mercurian year, for about 8 days, the sun is in the sky Mercury first it stops and then starts moving in the other direction. After eight days, the sun stops again, and then resumes its normal movement.

The second planet from the Sun is Venus. You won’t see the sun from the surface because of dense clouds of sulfuric acid, the pressure will squeeze out your eyes, and the temperature is even higher than on Mercury (+480°C), so you’re unlikely to have time to see anything.

Red planet - Mars. The sun on Mars is 1.5 times smaller. The sunset is not red like on Earth, but bluish. The reason for this color of the sky is the same that on Earth gives a blue sky and a red sunset - Rayleigh scattering. The difference between the color of the sky at noon and at sunset is in the volume of the atmosphere that is overcome sun rays. On Mars, the atmosphere is a hundred times thinner than on Earth, but when the Sun is at the horizon, its light travels thirty times more. thick layer atmosphere than at noon.

Jupiter- the largest planet in our system in every sense. A giant ball of gas, inside which hydrogen acquires metallic properties. The sun is 5.2 times smaller. As it dives into the atmosphere, the Sun will be covered by clouds different colors: Mainly blue, brown and red. However, Jupiter emits more heat than it receives from the outside.

Jupiter has several rings made of dust and tiny asteroids. These rings can be visible from latitudes far from the equator. In addition, several moons can be seen in the sky of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. The most noticeable of them will be Io: from Jupiter it will appear slightly larger than our Earth's Moon.

Lord of the Rings - Saturn. The most beautiful planet Solar system. The size of the solar disk is on average 9.5 times (!) smaller than ours. Also gas giant, emits more heat than it receives from the Sun.

Uranus- a truly unique planet. Uranus is unique in its location, its axis is tilted at 98 degrees, which forces the original planet to orbit while lying on its side. In this position, the main flow is directed towards the pole areas solar energy, but, contrary to logical conclusions, the temperature at the equator has more high performance. The direction of rotation of the ice giant is the opposite of its orbital motion. Uranus makes one revolution in 84 Earth years, and a day passes in 17 hours; this period is calculated approximately due to the uneven movement of the gaseous surface. In short, imagining how the Sun moves across the sky requires your brain to boil.

Neptune- blue giant. The winds blowing on Neptune have a unique speed, its average is 1000 km/h, and hurricane gusts reach 2400 km/h. Air masses move against the planet's axis of rotation. An inexplicable fact is the increase in storms and winds, which is observed with increasing distance between the planet and the Sun. The sun is 30 times smaller than the earth's.

There are thirteen known satellites of Neptune. The largest of them, Triton, will appear slightly larger than our Moon; the next largest Proteus will be half the size. The remaining moons of Neptune are small and will be visible as ordinary stars.

Pluto 40 times farther from the Sun than the Earth, so little solar energy and light comes here that our star can be confused with a large star. Pluto and its moon Charon orbit each other, and Pluto's orbit is sharply tilted relative to the other planets. A year on Pluto lasts 248 Earth years. And a day is almost a week. The surface temperature ranges from minus 228 to minus 238 °C.

*Illustrations by Ron Miller

Sunsets are beautiful from anywhere in the solar system. And although we will never be able to enjoy them in person, satellites, telescopes and computer simulations allow us to see breathtaking images.

The closest planet to the Sun is Mercury. The solar disk is approximately three times larger than that of Earth. Temperature at night: −180 °C, during the day: +430 °C.

The second planet from the Sun is Venus. You won’t see the sun from the surface because of dense clouds of sulfuric acid, the pressure will squeeze out your eyes, and the temperature is even higher than on Mercury (+480 °C), so you’re unlikely to have time to see anything.

And here is the third planet from the Sun. How do you like this rare angle?

Red planet - Mars. The sun on Mars is 1.5 times smaller. The sunset is not red, like on Earth, but bluish. The reason for this color of the sky is the same that on Earth gives a blue sky and a red sunset - Rayleigh scattering... The difference between the color of the sky at noon and at sunset is in the volume of the atmosphere that is overcome by the sun's rays. On Mars, the atmosphere is a hundred times thinner than on Earth, but when the Sun is near the horizon, light travels thirty times thicker through the atmosphere than at midday.

Jupiter is the largest planet in our system in every sense. A giant ball of gas, inside which hydrogen acquires metallic properties. The sun is 5.2 times smaller. However, Jupiter emits more heat than it receives from the outside. And here is the view from the Europa satellite:

Lord of the Rings - Saturn. The most beautiful planet in the solar system. The size of the solar disk is on average 9.5 times (!) smaller than ours. The gas giant also emits more heat than it receives from the Sun.

Uranus is a truly unique planet. Uranus is unique in its location, its axis is tilted at 98 degrees, which forces the planet to orbit while lying on its side. In this position, the main flow of solar energy is directed to the polar regions, but contrary to logical conclusions, the temperature at the equator has higher values. The direction of rotation of the ice giant is the opposite of its orbital motion. Uranus makes one revolution in 84 Earth years, and a day passes in 17 hours; this period is calculated approximately due to the uneven movement of the gaseous surface. It is impossible to imagine how the Sun moves across the sky without the brain boiling (for Mercury it is even worse). And here is a satellite view of Ariel:

Neptune is a blue giant. Neptune's winds have a unique speed, the average is 1000 km/h, and hurricane gusts are 2400 km/h. Air masses move against the planet's axis of rotation. An inexplicable fact is the increase in storms and winds, which is observed with increasing distance between the planet and the Sun. Attention! The sun is 30 times smaller than the earth's. Not the best best place admiring the sunset, but here's the view from Triton:

Well, and our little brother, whom everyone offends, is the dwarf planet Pluto. It is 40 times farther from the Sun than the Earth; so little solar energy and light comes here that our star can be confused with a large star. Pluto and its moon Charon orbit each other, and Pluto's orbit is sharply tilted relative to the other planets. A year on Pluto lasts 248 Earth years. And a day is almost a week. The surface temperature ranges from - 228 to - 238 °C.