An Astronaut's Dream Destination
Study completed 24 December 2010.
Image Copyright by Ulrich Lotzmann. All rights reserved.
Click on the image for a larger version.
Mars and the splendor of Orion viewed at night from a lunar site at about45 degrees north longitude and five degrees around the Moon's eastern limb
at about 95 degrees east. With neither the Sun nor the Earth above
the horizon and the surface lit only by starlight, the splendor's of the Orion
Nebula should be visible to the naked eye.
At 95E / 45 N Orion has this orientation and height above the SSW horizon
about once a month. For half the year, the Sun is up at these times. The
night time opportunities to see Orion in this configuration are from October
to March. Because the lunar surface cools very rapidly at sunset, the
safest time to get a view would probably be just after sunset in October.
Ulli has used a bit of artistic license in showing Mars near the bottom of
Orion. Orion is roughly 15 degrees tall and the ecliptic plane is roughly
another 15 degrees higher. "My initial plan was to show Mars
higher in the sky, but that would have led to unnatural postures of the
astros." The next opportunity to see Orion from
45N / 95E in this configuration and with Mars directly
over Orion, is 23 October 2022.
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