What Does Sunset On an Alien World Look Like?

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What Does Sunset On an Alien World Look Like?

Posted by Soulskill on Monday January 9, 2012 @08:12AM from the forgot-my-camera dept.

The Bad Astronomer writes "Using real data from Hubble Space Telescope of a planet orbiting another star, exoplanetary scientist Frédéric Pont created a lovely image of what sunset would look like from HD209458b, nicknamed Osiris, a planet 150 light years away. The Hubble data gave information on the atmospheric absorption of this hot Jupiter planet, and, coupled with models of how the atmosphere was layered, Pont was able to create a realistic looking sunset on the planet. The big surprise: the star looks green as it sets! Sodium absorption sucks out the red colors and blue is scattered away, leaving just the green hues to get through. It's a lovely application of hard scientific knowledge."

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And apparently... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-09 08:15 · Score: 5, Funny

...they get overloaded servers there too. :P
1. Re:And apparently... by Barryke · 2012-01-09 08:20 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Same here, http response 500.
  Coral cache: http://www.exoclimes.com.nyud.net/paper-outlines/the-sunset-on-hd-209458-b/
  
  --
  Hivemind harvest in progress..
Re:And conveniently enough by Ardeaem · 2012-01-09 08:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

it's located someplace that we're not going to be able to verify the results.
The laws of physics work the same way there that they do here...you don't actually have to go there to know how light will pass through the atmosphere...
Looks very familar by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-09 08:17 · Score: 5, Funny

It looks to me like the sunset has a striking resemblance to a 500 error.
Re:Only if... by Victor_0x53h · 2012-01-09 08:27 · Score: 4, Insightful

I see what you're going for there, but the image would be of "a sunset on an alien world", not "a sunset on an alien world as observed through the eyes of an alien". I know this is Slashdot and reading articles isn't kosher, but I thought it was ok to at least read the post's title.
Re:And conveniently enough by dave420 · 2012-01-09 08:35 · Score: 4, Interesting

We are talking about how a star (which we can clearly measure) interacts with an atmosphere (which, again, we can clearly measure). Nothing as small or dark as Pluto needs to be measured to figure out what the "sunset" looks like. Comparing the two is highly specious. Not being able to directly image a dark, tiny rock is a lot different to being able to detect the atmosphere of a planet and the output of a (relatively) very bright star.
I guess it's best to leave this stuff to the professionals ;)
Re:And conveniently enough by Brain-Fu · 2012-01-09 08:56 · Score: 4, Informative

The laws of physics work the same way there that they do here
That is a metaphysical assumption of physics, not an observed fact. We won't know that for sure until we go there.
Of course...it is probably true.