A glutton for calculations?

[Aethon]

K, watching out my bedroom window for meteors and wondering : How long do I hafta stare at Mars to ensure I've received a photon reflected from MSL "Curiosity"?

[bsalis]

It would have to be in the light and in the field of view. How well lit would matter.

Other then that, its very speculative really. I would guess a long time.

[YNM]

You should've received it, just that you can't notice it (at all). But I can't be so sure...

You'd need to calculate the received flux from Sun at Mars, then multiply it with the top-down surface area of MSL. Multiply it with the albedo (reflectiveness) of MSL. Assume that Mars is on opposition and MSL is located at a site where the Sun is at it's zenith, divide this number with 2À.(Earth-Mars distance on opposition)... That's how many watts you'll receive from it. If you want to know whether (or when) a photon will really arrives at you, use Planck relation E = h.f = h.(c/λ) , assume the wavelength is on human eye peak visible spectrum (540 nm according to UBV system).

That's a really rough calculation. The true one would be like, far smaller.

[Tinyboss]

You probably won't want to stare at Mars for too long when it's in opposition. ;-)

Edit: Oops, I didn't read that definition of "opposition" very carefully. I had in mind the other way that the three bodies can line up, i.e. with the Sun in between.

Edited June 22, 2014 by Tinyboss

[Brotoro]

Best time to stare at Mars is when it's in opposition.