Sunrises in Space: How Many Times Per Day Around Each Planet?

Imagine floating in a spaceship, looking out your window as you zoom around Earth. You're probably thinking you'd see one beautiful sunrise each day, just like we do on the ground. But here's something that might surprise you: astronauts orbiting our planet actually see the sun rise and set multiple times in what we consider a single day! This amazing phenomenon happens because of how fast spacecraft travel around Earth, and it gets even more interesting when we think about orbiting other planets in our solar system.

When astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) look out their windows, they experience something truly spectacular. The ISS travels at an incredible speed of about 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour) as it orbits roughly 250 miles above Earth's surface.

At this speed and altitude, the space station completes one full orbit around our planet in approximately 90 to 93 minutes. This means that in a 24-hour period, astronauts experience about 16 complete day-night cycles! Each sunrise lasts only a few seconds, followed by about 45 minutes of daylight, then a few seconds of sunset, and about 45 minutes of darkness.

Think about it this way: while you're sleeping through one night on Earth, astronauts above you are watching the sun rise and set eight times!

The reason astronauts see so many sunrises isn't because the sun is doing anything different—it's all about perspective and speed! As the spacecraft orbits Earth, it's constantly moving in and out of Earth's shadow.

When the spacecraft is on the side of Earth facing the sun, the astronauts experience "day." When Earth blocks the sunlight as the spacecraft moves to the planet's shadow side, they experience "night." Because they're moving so fast around the planet, they zip in and out of this shadow much more frequently than the natural day-night cycle we experience on Earth's surface.

It's similar to how a race car driver might pass under multiple bridges during a single lap—except instead of bridges, it's Earth's shadow, and instead of a race track, it's an orbit around our entire planet!

Now, let's imagine what would happen if you were orbiting other planets in our solar system. The number of sunrises you'd see would depend on how close you orbit to each planet and how big that planet is.

Each planet has different characteristics that would affect your orbital experience. Larger planets have stronger gravity, which means you might need to orbit faster to avoid falling into them. Smaller planets have weaker gravity, so you might orbit more slowly. The distance from the sun also matters—planets farther from the sun receive less sunlight.

Mars is particularly interesting because it's a planet humans might actually visit someday! If you were orbiting Mars at a low altitude similar to how the ISS orbits Earth, you'd likely see about 20-22 sunrises per day. This is because Mars is smaller than Earth, so a low orbit around Mars would be completed more quickly.

However, the sunrises around Mars would look quite different from those around Earth. Mars has a much thinner atmosphere, so you wouldn't see the same colorful atmospheric glow. The sun would also appear smaller and dimmer because Mars is farther from the sun than Earth.

Astronauts who have lived on the International Space Station often talk about how amazing but also challenging it can be to experience so many sunrises and sunsets. While it's incredibly beautiful, it can also make it difficult to maintain a normal sleep schedule!

NASA has to carefully plan astronaut schedules and even use special lighting inside the space station to help astronauts maintain healthy sleep patterns. Imagine trying to fall asleep when you know the sun is going to rise in just 45 minutes!

As humans continue to explore space, we might someday have the opportunity to experience sunrises from orbit around other planets. Future missions to Mars, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and even asteroids will give astronauts completely new perspectives on what it means to watch the sun rise.

Each new world will offer its own unique version of this daily miracle that we often take for granted here on Earth. Whether it's the rapid-fire sunrises of a Mercury orbit or the distant, dim sunrises around Jupiter, each will remind us of how special and varied our solar system truly is.