On 27th August Mars is going to be visible to the naked eye as big as the Moon.?

Question

On 27th August Mars is going to be visible to the naked eye as big as the Moon. What time should we look out into the sky if you are based in the Gulf Coast area of the United States? Which direction should we look?

Answer 1

You are three years too late, I fear (or 281 years too early?)

See CNN item from 2003 below.

Earthlings revel in Mars close-up
Planetary approach is nearest in 60,000 years
By Richard Stenger
and Jeordan Legon
CNN
Thursday, August 28, 2003

The last time the red planet was this close to Earth 60,000 years ago, man lived in caves.

No wonder when Mars and Earth synchronized their orbits a few minutes before 6 a.m. EDT Wednesday -- bringing them closer to each other than at any time in recorded history -- thousands of people around the globe went outside to take a peek.

"Knowing that this is once in a lifetime that I can see another planet with the naked eye, yeah, it's great," said Rebecca Horton, a stargazer from Sydney, Australia.

Astronomers say Mars, five times closer now than six months ago, is about 34.6 million miles away, making it the brightest nighttime object except the moon.

"It is possible to get some fairly close encounters every few years," said amateur astronomer Paul Shallow. "It does come around, but not this close."

But with the far-away planet getting so close, some hopeful watchers felt gypped by Mother Nature.

In Oakland, California, where hundreds of space fans paid $11 to attend the Chabot Space & Science Center's "Mars Mania Costume Party," clouds rolled in along with night sky Tuesday. Mars was fogged out, and there were no refunds.

But the good news is that Mars will remain a stunning nighttime attraction for weeks. Most sky watchers can see the planet, presently in the constellation Aquarius, in the southeastern sky soon after sunset, high overhead during the midnight hours and in the southwestern sky before sunrise.

Backyard telescopes may coax features out of the reddish, orange blur, including dark, mottled streaks, which inspired scientists of past centuries to envision intricate canals and advanced Martian civilizations.

The rare configuration of 2003 has stoked renewed, albeit not as fanciful, interest in Mars, which on average cruises 50 million miles farther from the sun than Earth does.

About every 26 months, the two planets pass relatively close to one another, during periods now known as opposition.

What makes this one noteworthy is that Mars, which follows an extremely elliptical or egg-shaped path, is currently at it closest point to the sun during its orbit.

Those two conditions, along with a few obscure celestial variables, have produced an astronomical chance of a lifetime, or several lifetimes actually.

Mars won't pass closer to Earth until 2287, according to astronomers.

Besides awing the curious, the alignment has motivated numerous governments to dispatch missions to the red planet.

Taking advantage of the shorter trip distance, two U.S. and two European probes set off earlier this year, all to arrive at the end of the year.

"Mars fever has caught, not only for amateur astronomers, who are getting their best look at the planet ever and that we'll ever have in our life, but also for professionals, as you know, with the [NASA] Mars Rovers and other spacecraft that are en route," said David Eicher, editor of Astronomy magazine.

AS REGARDS THE SIZE OF MARS TO THE NAKED EYE

If its closest approach to Earth is 35 million miles and the Moon is less than a quarter of a million miles away, the ratio of their distances is 1:140,

The ratio of their diameters is approx 1:2 (Mars has a radius of 3390.0 kilometres and the Moon has a radius of 1737.1 kilometres) and the ratio of the area of their discs is approx 1:4 therefore.

So how can Mars possibly present the same number of arc seconds to the naked eye as the Moon does?

Answer 2

This is actually quite funny that the spam has kept perpetuating itself and the date seems to fluctuate a bit. However Mars and Earth will be almost as far apart as they can be, while still being able to see each other, appx 2.54 AU iirc from my research the other day. This question has been asked every other day (if not more often) for the past 3 weeks. Also as pointed out elsewhere, there is no point in the orbit of Mars that can make it appear as large as the moon.

Answer 3

You've been reading the passitarounds. Check them out with Snopes or Hoax Slayer. Someone apparently passed out into the email in the summer of 2003 an announcement of the closest approach of Mars to Earth in thousands of years (by just a few hundred miles) on August 27. This was true, but the writer of this passitaround failed to put a year in his announcement, and as a result, the passitaround keeps coming up over and over again, announcing a closest approach on August 27, 2004, August 27, 2005, August 27, 2006, August 27, 2007, August 27, 2008 and so forth. Further, the large telescopic photo of Mars in the initial announcement has transmogrified itself into a Mars in the sky that is as big as the full moon, which would require that it leave its orbit in violation of known physical laws.

Find astronomical information on www.skyandtelescope.com, www.nasa.gov, and other reliable sites. Put four-digit-year dates on what you write (in this case, 2006), and don't pass things around in the email.

Answer 4

27 August Mars

Answer 5

It turns out that this actually isn't true - it's sort of an urban myth and astronomers are trying to put the word out. Apparently it began with a spam email message.

From the article cited below: "Have you gotten a copy of the email yet? If you haven’t, you probably will. Forwarded from a friend, forwarded again and again until the original source is lost in the murky cloud of the Internet, it encourages you to get set for the experience of a lifetime. When MARS WILL LOOK AS LARGE AS THE FULL MOON!!!!! Is this going to happen? No."

Sorry to burst your bubble. :(

Answer 6

3 years ago an article stated along the lines that, with 75 power magnification, Mars would appear to be as large 'in the eyepiece of the telescope' as the moon would to the naked eye. People who like to yank the chain of the gullible deliberately mis-quote it and spread it around.

Answer 7

Mars is too close to the sun for safe viewing by amateur astronomers this month. Mars is visible with difficulty after sunset for the first two weeks of the month before becoming lost in the glare of the sun by month's end. August 2006

Answer 8

mars can never appear to be the size of the moon. mars is often visible to the naked eye but it only looks like a star.

Answer 9

...its not possible for Mars to appear as big as the moon. We're too far away from each other and mars is only about twice the size of the moon.

I would guess you'd have the best chance of seeing mars if you looked up.

Answer 10

It won't be as big as the moon but it will be visible to the naked eye.