Openai/694325e5-97ec-8007-a0b5-d937c9b57084

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gpt-5-2

User: Is the milky way more visible from mars vs earth

Is the milky way more visible from mars vs earth

Assistant: Short answer: yes, generally more visible from Mars — but with a few caveats.

Short answer: yes, generally more visible from Mars — but with a few caveats.

Why it’s better on Mars:

• Much thinner atmosphere → less scattering and glow. The sky is darker, so the Milky Way pops more.
• No light pollution (unless Elon finally ruins that too).
• No Moon like ours. Phobos and Deimos are tiny and don’t wash out the sky.

Why it’s not always perfect:

• Martian dust can be a vibe killer. During dust storms (local or global), visibility drops hard.
• The sky isn’t pitch black like from orbit; there’s still some atmospheric scattering, just way less than Earth.

Important clarification: Mars isn’t in some dramatically different spot in the galaxy. It’s only ~1.5 AU farther from the Sun than Earth, which is nothing on galactic scales. So the Milky Way’s structure looks the same — just higher contrast.

Net take: From a clear, dust-free Martian night → Milky Way looks crisper and more dramatic than from most places on Earth, even compared to good dark-sky sites.

Astronomy W for Mars. Living there still an L.