One way trip to the red planet.

Would a Jew have to wait for the planet to line up with Jerusalem in order to pray?

Of course not. Facing Jerusalem is optimal but in no sense required to the degree that prayer is impossible without it.

The Wolf

or chalav Yisroel? birkas hachama? And of course there would have to be zionists there so there would be someone for the “real Jews” to hate

I say let the zionists go. They will figure out how to turn the landscape into a flourishing paradise and within the decade, Martians will claim that they were there first. Its the surest way to make contact with ET.

What does Zionism have anything to do with this?

I just realized that the best way to colonize a planet is to send Joseph there. That would increase the population exponentially.

The problem is that air conditioning won’t work, since there is no air to cool the coils. Oh, well in that case, temperature won’t dissipate, either. So you can cool the coils with cool water from the winter.

Which Mazalos do they count there, ShaTzaA ChaNKaL? In what order?

As for Birchas Hachama, if you go with the geo-centric model then it doesn’t change, since the sun is said to have come into the correct position. If, however, we go the helio-centric model then the question is do we, as earthlings, still count by the sun’s relationship to Earth or from our perspective?

The thing with Birkas Hachama is than it isn’t an observed phenomenon in the first place.

Shabbos is discussed already by some Poskim, since it was Nogea the Israeli astronaut.

Which Mazalos do they count there, ShaTzaA ChaNKaL? In what order?

Actually, the constellations on Mars would be the exact same as the ones on Earth. The distance between Earth and Mars is not great enough to change the shapes of the constellations.

However, there would be two major differences.

First, the North Star on Mars would not be Polaris, as it is here on Earth*. There is no true North Star on Mars — the celestial North Pole from Mars would pass through a point between Deneb and Sadr.

Secondly, the path of the Zodiac is slightly different than here on Earth.

The Wolf

* Yes, I know Polaris isn’t exactly on the celestial North Pole, but it’s close enough for everyday purposes.

I wasn’t referring to the 12 Mazalos of the zodiac. I was talking about the seven heavenly bodies. We would have to switch Mars for Earth.

Ah, I misunderstood. My apologies.

It would be a bit more complicated than simply switching Earth for Mars.

Firstly, of the “planets” of antiquity, the moon was first because it was closest to Earth. An observer on Mars, of course, would not find this to be so. In addition, since the Moon orbits the Earth and not Mars, I’m not even sure how it should be represented, if at all.

In addition, Earth would have to be third and the Sun fourth.

Lastly, Mars has two moons and they are very different from Earth’s moon. Unlike the “planets” of antiquity as seen from Earth, Phobos rises in the west and sets in the east.

The Wolf

There are no tznius problems on Mars. You can’t go outside even slightly exposed, and there are no beaches to be found anywhere.

There are no fancy foods or extravagances.

Your neighbors’ homes will be the same as your own.

There is no shidduch crisis. Two men and two women only. No matter how far apart they are in age, this island is a win.

It’s a kanoi paradise. Submit an application and post here, I’ll vote for you. The only downside I can think of for a guy like Joe is you can only have one wife (at least you can only take one along with you).

Once we settle multiple planets, we will have to deal with Universal Warming/Cooling being pushed by the United Planets.

Send regards (second pair of guards) to Dr. Doomshtein.

When talking on the phone to an Earthling, what would be the delay?

Zach, welcome back and thanks for stopping by. Did you come here by chance or did someone tell you about this topic?

Here by chance.

As for the delay it will range between about 4 minutes when Mars is at Opposition to about 24 minutes. And there will be about a month a year when mars is behind the Sun (at Conjunction) where you would not have any communications.

Of course from Mars it would be that Earth is at Inferior Conjunction (Closest) and Superior Conjunction when it is behind the Sun.

(Opposition is when an object is directly oposite the sun and therefore the closest to the Earth)

Actually Saturn is at Opposition this right around now, and the rings are wide open so if you know someone with a Telescope go take a look.

The air will conduct heat, but not very well, it is very thin, very dry and very cold.

Mars rotates at an angle of about 25Degrees, Earth is about 23Degrees, the closest bright star to the pole would be Deneb, which is in Cygnus, but I don’t think it is very close to the pole.

Mars does have seasons, but they would be about twice as long as ours as a year on Mars is about 687 Earth Days. You can actually see the polar ice on mars advancing and retreating with the seasons from Earth with a decent telescope. I would expect that you could in fact keep track of that with about $600 worth of telescope and a sketch pad