On the left is the sunset as seen from Mars. On the right is the same view from Beijing. Were it not for the latter's urban setting, you might not be able to tell the difference. Crazy, right? Fortunately, science can explain why.
Joe Hanson is Ph.D biologist brain behind PBS's It's Okay to be Smart. He spelled out the phenomenon to Gizmodo:
Martian dust is a risk to future human exploration there. Minerals like gypsum in Mars dust could have the same effect as the buildup that harms coalminers' lungs, COPD and things like that. Of course, we wouldn't be outside breathing it in directly, right? The dust is a risk to spacesuits and settlements, too. The Apollo missions taught us that spacesuits really love to get clogged up with dust. Because it's been rolling around in the Martian atmosphere for millions of years, that dust is buzzing with static charge, so it REALLY sticks to stuff like air filters. That could be dangerous, since breathing is kind of an Achilles' Heel for us.
The extra-small size of those Martian dust particles is actually why the sunset there appears slightly blue in that photo. On earth, our atmospheric gases scatter blue and violet light as it travels through the atmosphere (which is why our sunsets are red and our sky is blue).
Source : gizmodo.com
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