If a person were standing on the surface of Mars, under ideal viewing conditions for seeing a meteor: no clouds, the sun has long set, would a meteor be visible to the naked eye considering how thin the Martian atmosphere is?
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
1
-
2$\begingroup$ You can see a meteorite (a meteor that survives all the way to the surface) that landed on Mars here: space.stackexchange.com/a/24660/12102 Also check out What will shooting stars look like on Mars? and also How small must an asteroid be to burn entirely in the martian atmosphere? $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Dec 18, 2019 at 16:00
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
First Shooting Star Seen from Mars
space.com 2005
The background image shows the meteor near the top-left and the horizon at the bottom. A red arrow shows the direction of travel. The inset is a larger version of the meteor itself. The graph is a "light curve" that aided in tying the meteor to comet Wiseman–Skiff. (Image: © Nature/NASA/Spirit/F. Selsis et al.)
This was made by Spirit's panoramic camera, so it probably would be visible to the naked (helmeted) eye.
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
2
Yes. There actually is an example. From the below text:
Dust from the comet impacted Mars and was vaporized high in the atmosphere, producing what was likely an impressive meteor shower.
-
$\begingroup$ Well... that article says the dust led to a long-lasting ion cloud which is what produced photons (mostly UV). If the OP wanted to know whether a meteor would heat up and produce a streak as happens on Earth, that's not quite clear. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 18, 2019 at 20:19
-
$\begingroup$ The articles states that there must have been an impressive meteor shower, which would be the visible part. I wasn't aware that there actually is a photo of a meteor on Mars, so there is that. @Keith McClary's answer deserves to be accepted, imo. $\endgroup$– user31179Commented Dec 18, 2019 at 23:55