Extraterrestrial sky

'', the Earth viewed from the Moon. Taken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders while in lunar orbit, December 24, 1968]]
In astronomy, an **extraterrestrial sky** is a view of outer space from the surface of a planet (or related body in space) other than Earth.

The only extraterrestrial sky that has been directly observed and photographed by astronauts is that of the Moon. The skies of Venus, Mars and Titan have been observed by space probes designed to land on the surface and send images back to Earth.

Extraterrestrial skies seem to vary because of a number of reasons. An extraterrestrial atmosphere, if present, has a large bearing on visible characteristics. The atmosphere's density and chemical composition can contribute to differences in color, opacity (including haze) and the presence of clouds. Astronomical objects may also be visible and can include natural satellites, rings, star systems and nebulas and other planetary system bodies.

For skies that have not been directly or indirectly observed, their appearance can be simulated based on known factors, such as the position of astronomical objects relative to the surface and atmospheric composition.

## Mercury
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Because Mercury has little or no atmosphere, a view of the planet's skies would be no different from viewing space from orbit. Mercury has a southern pole star, Alpha Pictoris. It is fainter than Earth's Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor.

### The Sun from Mercury
On average, the visible diameter of the Sun on Mercury is 2.5 times as large as it appears from Earth, and its total brightness is more than 6 times as great. Because of the planet's orbit, the Sun's apparent diameter in the sky would vary from 2.2 times that from Earth to 3.2 times. The sun would be over ten-times brighter.

Due to its slow rotation, a day on Mercury lasts around 176 Earth days.

### Other planets seen from Mercury
After the Sun, the second-brightest object in the Mercurian sky is Venus, which is much brighter there than for observers on Earth.

The Earth and the Moon are also very prominent in the sky of Mercury. If the Sun could be seen from Venus's surface, the time from one sunrise to the next would be about 117 Earth days. Because of the rotation of Venus, the Sun would appear to rise in the west and set in the east.

An observer above the clouds of Venus would circle the planet in about four Earth days, and see a sky in which the Earth and the Moon shine brightly. Mercury would also be easy to spot, because it is closer and brighter, For many years, the sky on Mars was thought to be more pinkish than it is now believed to be.

It is now known that during the Martian day, the sky is a butterscotch color. Around sunset and sunrise, the sky is rose in color, but in the vicinity of the setting Sun it is blue. This is the opposite of the situation on Earth. Twilight lasts a long time after the Sun has set and before it rises because of the dust high up in the atmosphere of Mars.

On Mars, the red color of the sky is caused by the presence of iron(III) oxide in the airborne dust particles. These particles are larger in size than gas molecules, so most of the light is scattered. Dust absorbs blue light and scatters longer wavelengths (red, orange, yellow).

### The Sun from Mars
The Sun as seen from Mars is about  as large as seen from Earth, and shines 40% of the light, approximately the brightness of a slightly cloudy afternoon on Earth.

### Mars's moons as seen from Mars
Mars has two small moons: Phobos and Deimos. From the Martian surface, Phobos is one-third to one-half the size of the Sun, while Deimos is barely more than a dot.

Due to its orbit, Phobos rises in the west and sets in the east. Deimos rises in the east and sets in the west, like a "normal" moon, although its appearance to the naked eye would be star-like. Phobos and Deimos can both eclipse the Sun as seen from Mars, although neither can completely cover its disk and so the event is in fact a transit, rather than an eclipse.

### Earth from Mars
The Earth is visible from Mars as a double star; the Moon would be visible alongside it as a fainter companion.

### Venus from Mars
Venus as seen from Mars would have an apparent magnitude of about −3.2.

From Jupiter, the Sun appears to be less than a quarter of its size as seen from Earth.

### Jupiter's moons as seen from Jupiter
Aside from the Sun, the most prominent objects in Jupiter's sky are the four Galilean moons. Io, the nearest to the planet, would be slightly larger than the full moon in Earth's sky, though less bright, and would be the largest moon in the Solar System as seen from Jupiter. The higher brightness of Europa would not overcome its greater distance from Jupiter, so it would not outshine Io. Ganymede, the largest moon and third from Jupiter, is almost as bright as Io and Europa, but appears only half the size of Io. Callisto, further out, would appear only a quarter the size of Io.
 plume on Europa (artist concept)]]

None of the surface features on Jupiter's moons would appear as prominent as the lunar maria do when the Moon is viewed from Earth. Dark and light patches would be visible on Io's surface due to the coloration of sulfur that covers Io, and the largest volcanoes would be designated by dark points, but the lack of large, contrasting features results in a poor view of it. Europa, however, would appear as a completely featureless white disc. Even when viewed from nearby, most spacecraft images use contrast enhancements to clearly show the cracks in the Europan ice. Vague dark and light patches would be visible on Ganymede, whereas Callisto is much too distant for any features to be made out.

All four Galilean moons stand out because of the swiftness of their motion, compared to the Moon. They are all also large enough to fully eclipse the Sun.

Jupiter's small inner moons appear only as star-like points except Amalthea, which can occasionally appear as large as Callisto. However, they would all be brighter than any star. The outer moons would be invisible except for Himalia, which would appear as a dim, star-like point to the naked eye only under favorable circumstances.

### The skies of Jupiter's moons
None of Jupiter's moons have more than traces of atmosphere, so their skies are black or very nearly so. For an observer on one of the moons, the most prominent feature of the sky by far would be Jupiter.

Because the inner moons of Jupiter are in synchronous rotation around Jupiter, the planet always appears in nearly the same spot in their skies. Observers on the sides of the Galilean satellites facing away from the planet would never see Jupiter, for instance.

From the moons of Jupiter, solar eclipses caused by the Galilean satellites would be spectacular, because an observer would see the circular shadow of the eclipsing moon travel across Jupiter's face.

## Saturn
 and Moon (bottom-right) from Saturn (Cassini; July 2013)]]
The sky in the upper reaches of Saturn's atmosphere is blue, but the predominant color of its cloud decks suggests that it may be yellowish further down. The rings of Saturn are almost certainly visible from the upper reaches of its atmosphere. The rings are so thin that from a position on Saturn's equator, they would be almost invisible. However, from anywhere else on the planet, they could be seen as a spectacular arc stretching across half the celestial hemisphere. With its thick atmosphere and methane rain, Titan is the only celestial body other than Earth upon which rainbows on the surface could form. However, given the extreme thickness of the atmosphere in visible light, the vast majority of the rainbow would be in the infrared.

#### The sky of Enceladus
Seen from Enceladus, Saturn would have a visible diameter sixty times more than the Moon visible from Earth. Moreover, since Enceladus rotates synchronously with its orbital period and therefore keeps one face pointed toward Saturn, the planet never moves in the sky of Enceladus and cannot be seen from the far side of the satellite.

Saturn's rings would be almost invisible, but their shadow on Saturn's disk would be clearly distinguishable. Like our own Moon from Earth, Saturn itself would show regular phases. From Enceladus, the Sun would have a diameter of only one-ninth that of the Moon as seen from Earth.

An observer located on Enceladus could also observe Mimas (the biggest satellite located inside Enceladus's orbit) transit in front of Saturn every 72&nbsp;hours, on average. Its apparent size would be about the same size as the Moon seen from Earth. Pallene and Methone would appear nearly star-like. Tethys, visible from Enceladus's anti-Saturnian side, would reach a maximum apparent size, about twice that of the Moon as seen from the Earth.

## Uranus
Judging by the color of its atmosphere, the sky of Uranus is probably a light blue. It is unlikely that the planet's rings can be seen from its surface, as they are very thin and dark.

None of Uranus's moons would appear as large as a full moon on Earth from the surface of Uranus, but the large number of them would present an interesting sight for observers hovering above the cloud tops. Unlike on Jupiter and Saturn, many of the inner moons can be seen as disks rather than star-like points; the moons Portia and Juliet can appear around the size of Miranda at times, and a number of other inner moons appear larger than Oberon. The outer irregular moons would not be visible to the naked eye.

The low light levels at such a great distance from the sun ensure that the moons appear very dim; the brightest, Ariel, would shine more than 100 times dimmer than the moon as seen from Earth. Meanwhile, the outer large moon Oberon would be only as bright as Venus despite its proximity.

## Neptune
Judging by the color of its atmosphere, the sky of Neptune is probably an azure or sky blue, similar to Uranus'. As in the case of Uranus, it is unlikely that the planet's rings can be seen from its surface, as they are very thin and dark.

Aside from the Sun, the most notable object in Neptune's sky is its large moon Triton, which would appear slightly smaller than a full Moon on Earth. It moves more swiftly than our Moon. The smaller moon Proteus would show a disk about half the size of the full Moon. An alignment of the inner moons would likely produce a spectacular sight. Neptune's large outer satellite, Nereid, is not large enough to appear as a disk from Neptune, and is not noticeable in the sky. The other irregular outer moons would not be visible to the naked eye.

As with Uranus, the low light levels cause the major moons to appear very dim.

### The sky of Triton
Triton, Neptune's largest moon, has an atmosphere, but it is so thin that its sky is still black, possibly with some pale haze at the horizon. Because Triton orbits with synchronous rotation, Neptune always appears in the same position in its sky. As Neptune orbits the Sun, Triton's polar regions take turns facing the Sun for 82 years at a stretch, resulting in radical seasonal changes as one pole, then the other, moves into the sunlight.

Neptune itself with a maximum brightness would be about that of the full moon on Earth. Due to its eccentric orbit, Nereid would vary considerably in brightness; its disk would be far too small to see with the naked eye. Proteus would also be difficult to resolve but, at its closest, would rival Canopus.

## Trans-Neptunian Objects
A trans-Neptunian object is any minor planet in the Solar System that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune.

### Pluto and Charon
Pluto, accompanied by its largest moon Charon, orbits the Sun at a distance usually outside the orbit of Neptune except for a twenty-year period in each orbit.
From Pluto, the Sun is point-like to human eyes, but still very bright, giving roughly 150 to 450 times the light of the full Moon from Earth. Nonetheless, human observers on Pluto would notice a large decrease in available light.

Pluto's atmosphere consists of a thin envelope of nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide gases, all of which are derived from the ices of these substances on its surface. When Pluto is close to the Sun, the temperature of Pluto's solid surface increases, causing these ices to sublimate into gasses. This atmosphere also produces a noticeable blue haze that is visible at sunset and possibly other times of the Plutonian day.

Pluto and Charon are tidally locked to each other. This means that Charon always presents the same face to Pluto, and Pluto also always presents the same face to Charon. Observers on the far side of Charon from Pluto would never see the dwarf planet; observers on the far side of Pluto from Charon would never see the moon. Charon, as seen from Pluto's surface would be a very large object in the night sky.

File:Plutonian system.jpg|View from Hydra. Pluto and Charon (right); Nix (left) (artist concept).
File:ESO-L. Calçada - Pluto (by).jpg|View from Pluto. Sun (right-top); Charon (left) (artist concept).
File:PIA19682-Pluto-Charon-Sun-ArtistConcept-20150608.jpg|View from Pluto of Charon and the Sun (artist concept).
File:NH-PlutoByMoonlight-ArtistConcept-20150710.jpg|Pluto by moonlight(artist concept).

## Comets
The sky of a comet changes dramatically as it nears the Sun. During closest distance, a comet's ices begin to sublime from its surface, forming tails of gas and dust, and a coma. An observer on a comet nearing the Sun might see the stars slightly obscured by a milky haze, which could create halo effects around the Sun and other bright objects.

## Extrasolar planets
For observers on extrasolar planets, the constellations would differ depending on the distances involved. A consequence of observing the universe from other stars is that stars that may appear bright in our own sky may appear dimmer in other skies and vice versa.

A planet around either α Centauri A or B would see the other star as a very bright secondary.

From a planet orbiting Aldebaran, 65 light years away, our Sun would be seen as an insignificant star between Ophiuchus and Scorpius. Constellations made of bright, distant stars would look somewhat similar (such as Orion and Scorpius) but much of the night sky would seem unfamiliar to someone from Earth. Even Orion would appear somewhat different; viewed from this position, Alnilam and Mintaka would appear to be on top of each other, thus reducing the belt to two stars. Also, Bellatrix would be much closer to the belt, making the "chest" of Orion somewhat smaller.

## Stars 
If the Sun were to be observed from the Alpha Centauri system, the nearest star system to ours, it would appear to be as a star in the constellation Cassiopeia. Due to the proximity of the Alpha Centauri system, the constellations would, for the most part, appear similar.

From further away, the Sun would be an average looking star in the constellation Serpens Caput. At this distance, most of the stars nearest to us would be in different locations to those in our sky, including Alpha Centauri, Sirius, and Procyon.

## Related pages
* Earth phase
* Exosphere
* Extraterrestrial skies (en wiki)
* Sky
* Spaceship Earth
* Timeline of first images of Earth from space (en wiki)

## References
## Further reading
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## Other websites
* Astronauts on the planets
* Essay on the possible sky colours of alien worlds.
* JPL Solar System Simulator
* Phases of Charon as seen from Pluto
* The Starry Universe – *Life* magazine (December 20, 1954).
* Sunsets simulated on other planets (NASA; 22 June 2020)
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