Mars Sky

Greetings Earthlings!

Mars Sky is doubtless certainly one of the only a few apps designed for use on the floor of Mars. It's the must-have explorer's software must you need the reply to any of the next questions:

- What is the Martian date and time of the place where I crash landed?

- Where is the Earth within the sky so I can send a misery call?

- What is the course of the Sun so I can discover my method to the base?

Even when you're nonetheless secure and sound on the Earth, Mars Sky can inform you if it's daylight

where your probe landed, and whether it's ready for the Earth to receive its alerts.

So What Is It?

Mars Sky is a straightforward map of the sky that reveals at a glance the present positions of the solar and planets as seen from a location on the surface of Mars.

The top half of the map shows the sky above the horizon; the underside half shows the sky beneath the horizon.

The bodies of the photo voltaic system proven on the map include:

- The Sun

- Mercury

- Venus

- Earth

- Jupiter

- Saturn

- Uranus

- Neptune

- Pluto

as nicely because the moons of Mars:

- Phobos

- Deimos

More actual position data can be found on the Details List display, corresponding to::

- Distance from Mars

- Apparent Diameter

- Compass Bearing

- Azimuth

- Altitude

- Right Ascension *

- Declination *

- Celestial longitude and latitude *

(* Based on Mars' equator and orbital plane)

What is the Martian Date?

There is a selection of two completely different Martian calendars for displaying the present date:

* The Darian Calendar

* The Mars Simplified Calendar

Darian Calendar

The Darian calendar was designed by Thomas Gangale in 1985. It is considered one of several calendars designed to be used on Mars however is at present one of the in style.

There are 24 months of both 27 or 28 days in the Darian year that are named after the constellations of the zodiac; 12 from their Latin names and 12 from their Sanskrit names:

- Sagittarius

- Dhanus

- Capricornus

- Makara

- Aquarius

- Kumbha

- Pisces

- Mina

- Aries

- Mesha

- Taurus

- Rishabha

- Gemini

- Mithuna

- Cancer

- Karka

- Leo

- Simha

- Virgo

- Kanya

- Libra

- Tula

- Scorpius

- Vrishika

For comprehensive information on how the calendar works go to Wikipedia. Future variations of the Mars Sky app might embrace choices to use other Martian calendars.

Mars Simplified Calendar

This calendar is predicated on the Darian calendar however with modifications to make it more intuitive for those of us used to the Earth based mostly Gregorian calendar.

There are solely twelve months with the same names as these of the Gregorian calendar. Each month of the Mars Simplified Calendar (MSC) contains both 55 or 56 sols and covers precisely two months of the Darian calendar:

- March (Sagittarius and Dhanus)

- April (Capricornus and Makara)

- May (Aquarius and Kumbha)

- June (Pisces and Mina)

- July (Aries and Mesha)

- August (Taurus and Rishabha)

- September (Gemini and Mithuna)

- October (Cancer and Karka)

- November (Leo and Simha)

- December (Virgo and Kanya)

- January (Libra and Tula)

- February (Scorpius and Vrishika)

The year begins with March around the Mars vernal equinox, making the Martian seasons fall in roughly the same MSC months as their equivalents on Earth:

- March, April, May (northern spring / southern autumn)

- June, July, August (northern summer time / southern winter)

- September, October, November (northern autumn / southern spring)

- December, January, February (northern winter / southern summer)

The days of the week are the same ones acquainted to us on Earth and repeat often in a seven sol cycle. There aren't any skipped weekdays.

What Location Coordinates on Mars Can I Use?

Any location on the surface of Mars really. The app comes with a small predefined listing of areas of interest such as:

- Olympus Mons

- Cydonia

- Curiosity Rover

- Viking Landers 1 and 2

and a lot of the probes and rovers which have landed on Mars.

But you possibly can add your personal places to the listing of locations by entering the longitude and latitude of the place you have an interest in.