You would think that a different location would yield a different view, but in astronomical terms, the Moon and Mars are just a footstep away. The question is, is that mere footstep enough of a distance to change the appearance of, say, Orion or URSA Major??
2006-07-26 08:23:12 · 8 answers · asked by Vermeer 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I believe they would appear the same as we move around the sun and the sun through space with no changes. The stars are a very long way away.
2006-07-26 08:28:14 · answer #1 · answered by Robert A 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rather than quote huge numbers, I always tell startled newcomers to astronomy that the very NEAREST stars are 10,000 times as far away as the farthest planet (Pluto).
Therefore, you would have to travel way out of the Solar System before you noticed a change in the constellations.
On that subject, is anyone tired of the same old mistake that some SF screenwriters make. They say, for instance, 'he comes from the constellation of Lyra".
The constellations are not places in the sky, but just chance groupings of stars that in most cases are totally unrelated to each other.
A good example of this is if you ever get the chance to see a few bright planets together. For instance, if Mars, Venus and Jupiter are seen in close formation, they would seem like a nice bright triangle of stars. If they were stars in that formation and you were an ancient person looking at the sky, you might imagine gazelle horns, or a bucket, or something like that. But in actuality, Jupiter would be nowhere near the other two planets, as it lies about 400 million miles beyond them. Jupiter being most often brighter than Mars would even look nearer.
So, going to a constellation is about as silly as going off to a group of planets (not that the planets stay grouped for very long).
2006-07-26 09:45:18 · answer #2 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The stars are too far away to show any visible parallax from within the solar system. The nearest star is around 25 trillion (25 x 10^12) miles away while the diameter of the solar system out to the orbit of Pluto is less than 10 billion (10 x 10^9) miles. So if you moved from one side of Pluto's orbit to the other, you'd see Alpha Centauri shift by about one arc-minute (1/60th of a degree), not enough to be visible to the naked eye.
2006-07-26 08:42:01 · answer #3 · answered by injanier 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, they would still appear essentially the same.
The biggest difference would be their orientation to the eye.
Even at the distance of Pluto, the stars are so far away that it wouldn't change the shapes of any recognized constellations to any perceptible degree to the eye without a strong telescope to see it.
2006-07-26 08:41:23 · answer #4 · answered by Jay T 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not completely sure (never been to the moon) but I would think they would have to look different. Constellations appear differently & are in different parts of the sky just going from the Northern to Southern hemispheres on Earth. Imagine going to a completely different planet...the differences would have to be even greater.
2006-07-26 08:28:04 · answer #5 · answered by Jeremy G 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no it is a matter of perspective to put it an easier way does your computer look the same as it does when you are siting down as when you take 4 steps to your left ?
2006-07-26 08:29:04 · answer #6 · answered by first_gholam 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd say that any change would be imperceptable and they would look the same.
2006-07-26 08:27:03 · answer #7 · answered by the_emrod 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Not far enough.
2006-07-26 08:26:56 · answer #8 · answered by The Man 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋