- #1
Constantinos
- 83
- 1
Hey!
Here's a question. This is Mercury as seen from some telescope during one of its transits
The white disk in the background is the Sun.
So suppose now that I am where this telescope is and start approaching Mercury. As I approach, both the Sun and Mercury would become larger from my point of view right? Given the picture above, it seems to me that if I stand just above the surface of Mercury, the sun would look HUGE. It would look like the whole sky in front of me is just Sun. Here is another picture, as I would come closer to mercury.
Regardless, the Sun as seen from Mercury is postulated to be much smaller than I would expect. According to this article, the Sun from mercury is 2.2 to 3.3 times bigger (I suppose in radius?) than the Sun on earth. That doesn't sound like much at all, certainly not the whole sky as I assume it.
So where do I go wrong?
Not a physicist, computer engineer though, so I guess I can understand basic math if need be?
Thanks!
Here's a question. This is Mercury as seen from some telescope during one of its transits
The white disk in the background is the Sun.
So suppose now that I am where this telescope is and start approaching Mercury. As I approach, both the Sun and Mercury would become larger from my point of view right? Given the picture above, it seems to me that if I stand just above the surface of Mercury, the sun would look HUGE. It would look like the whole sky in front of me is just Sun. Here is another picture, as I would come closer to mercury.
Regardless, the Sun as seen from Mercury is postulated to be much smaller than I would expect. According to this article, the Sun from mercury is 2.2 to 3.3 times bigger (I suppose in radius?) than the Sun on earth. That doesn't sound like much at all, certainly not the whole sky as I assume it.
So where do I go wrong?
Not a physicist, computer engineer though, so I guess I can understand basic math if need be?
Thanks!