According to an email I received from a friend, the planet Mars will be at its closest point to earth, in recorded history, on August 27, 06. 34,649,589 miles, and next to moon, will be the brightest object in the sky.
The planet Mars will appear as large as the full moon to naked eye.
2006-07-30 12:45:50 · 23 answers · asked by jorst 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Rethinking this whole thing, if Mars got close enought to earth to appear as large as our moon to the naked eye I'm seriously doubting any of us would be around to tell about it. This isn't the first time I've been gullable and it won't be the last.
2006-08-01 09:32:05 · update #1
I am afraid that you were taken in by a hoax. I was excited when I got the email. I then did some research and found it to be a hoax.
Claim: The planet Mars will make a once-in-our-lifetimes remarkably close approach to Earth in August.
Status: Multiple:
Mars passed extraordinarily close to Earth in August 2003: True.
Mars will pass extraordinarily close to Earth in August 2006: False.
Origins: The piece quoted above is another example of an item that was once true but is now being circulated again, long after the events it describes have come to pass. This article was relevant back in 2003, but it is not applicable now, three years later.
Mars did make an extraordinarily close approach to Earth which culminated on 27 August 2003, when the red planet came within 35 million miles (or 56 million kilometers) of Earth, its nearest approach to us in almost 60,000 years. At that time, Mars appeared approximately 6 times larger and 85 times brighter in the sky than it does ordinarily. (The message quoted above was often reproduced with an unfortunate line break in the middle of the second sentence of the second paragraph, leaving some readers with the mistaken impression that Mars would "look as large as the full moon to the naked eye" and not realizing that the statement only applied to those using viewing Mars through a scope with 75-power
magnification.)
2006-07-30 12:51:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wrong! That close approach of Mars happened THREE YEARS AGO, and it was NOT as large as the full moon. The closest Mars will come to Earth in August, 2006 is 232,392,825.9 miles on August 1. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mars/mars_orbit.html
2006-07-30 21:28:58 · answer #2 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not so sure its a deliberate fake. I think someone did a Google search and found information about the 2003 close encounter of Mars. They saw it was happening in August, but assumed it was in the current year.
Also, in the original transacript that someone published here a few days ago, it said that Mars would look as big as the moon when viewed with 70x power - that would be about correct.
In the hype of passing it from person to person, someone has overlooked the 70x power bit.
2006-07-30 20:43:54 · answer #3 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unfortunately this is not the case, for two reasons. Mars was at its closest opposition to Earth in 2003, around the date and distance you mention. It was obviously not as large as the moon, and can never be--the ratio of distance from Earth to the size of Mars simply does not allow for that. Sorry :/
2006-07-30 19:51:08 · answer #4 · answered by murzun 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can't wait for you to ask in a month or so from now: "How could I have been so gullible?"
It's old news and distorted from the actual facts. Are you prepared to bet your life savings at Vegas on what you heard? If not, you should research the facts and maybe even look up at the night sky.
2006-07-31 23:28:47 · answer #5 · answered by Search first before you ask it 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is just a planet, rounded and nothing special unless this huge planet collide the moon and cause disaster to the earth.
2006-07-30 23:37:17 · answer #6 · answered by Answer 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Earth already had it's closest pass to Mars around two years ago.Somebody is probably trying to hoax you.
2006-07-30 21:56:27 · answer #7 · answered by kathy6500 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I can wait I have self control. I want to know why NASA dosn't take advantage of this opprutunity and launch there probes and stuff at this time. After all it'll cost less gas since mars is closer.
2006-07-30 21:20:41 · answer #8 · answered by Darth Futuza 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I heard something about that supposed to have happened two years ago I now believe it's a fake.
2006-07-30 19:48:26 · answer #9 · answered by conundrum_dragon 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hahahaha... your information is wrong sir... and so are your dates...it happened three years ago, but it never was and never will be as large as the full moon to the naked eye...sorry to disappoint...
2006-07-30 19:48:42 · answer #10 · answered by Sappho 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋