Can someone tell me the truth about Mars?

Question

Everyone I know are so excited that Mars will be coming up very close to us again. Yes we all know it once hap pend in 2003. They didn't think it would happen again for another 60, 000 years, but it looks like it happening right now.
On the other hand when I asked the question of who was excited about it many people called me an idiot basically. What's going on? Mars is always close this time of year, but they say it's going to be so close it will be visible to the naked eye. Tennis ball size I hear.

Answer 1

You are not an idiot, unless you are an experienced astronomer - any more than the thousands of others who fell for it too - many of whom should have known better. True idiots never seek the truth, they only seek confirmation of their existing beliefs from others who share the same.

At worst, you have most likely been misled by all the contradictory hype about it. For anyone other than those experienced in astronomy, that's understandable and forgivable.

The internet is an information paradox.

It is both the best and worst source of reliable information at the same time. The art is to tell the difference between bogus as opposed to reliable information. It is not easy sometimes. Even totally bogus nonsense can be disguised and presented as a professional looking web site or e-mail.

The information about Mars being that close is untrue and completely impossible.

Mars will NEVER appear as large as a tennis ball or the full moon unless you use a good telescope.

Mars will appear as large as the full Moon - if, and only if you travel far out into space or have a good telescope to observe it from here. (However, Mars won't be back until December, 2006. It's vacationing on the other side of the sun at the moment.)

The truth of the situation is that Mars can never get close enough to Earth to look nearly as large as the full Moon. At the very best, it resembles a bright reddish-orange star.

Mars diameter = 6794 km (4222 mi)
and
Mars never gets closer than 55-56 million kilometres (34-35 million miles) from Earth.

For Mars to appear as large as the Moon, you would have to be about 751300 km (466800 mi) away from Mars.

Therefore any statement that we can see Mars as large as the Moon is false - with two exceptions - either we travel out in space to a distance of 751300 km (466800 mi) from Mars or we observe it through a good telescope from Earth to magnify the image to that apparent size.

These are the only possible ways that Mars can appear as large as the Moon to our eyes.

I don't know if that foolish notion about Mars appearing as large as the moon is a hoax or just a plain miscalculation, but whoever started that nonsense should recheck his computations because he made a serious math error.

Please see NASA's official word on the subject:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07jul_marshoax.htm

Answer 2

October 30, 2005, Mars was 69 million kilometers away. The closest in a long time. The next "close encounter" with Mars will be December 18, 2007 when it will be 88 million kilometers. You will never be able to see Mars the same size as the Moon. That has been a long running hoax.

Answer 3

The Bible has all the needed answer in the area that deals with. It does not have answers in areas that it does not deal with. For example, the Bible does not contain the multiplication tables, but they are useful knowledge for humans to have. The exploration of Mars will probably yield some interesting things in the areas of some of areas not covered by the Bible. And some of that information could be useful. But nothing found on Mars will alter the information that is in the Bible, nor the truths it reveals about the nature God, of man, and of the relationships between them.

Answer 4

Please pass on to your friends the unfortunate news that you have been misled by a widespread hoax. Google "Mars hoax 2006" for more information. You will have to wait until late 2007 to get a good look at Mars. The link below shows information about Mars automatically updated for the current date. It will show you that Mars currently appears much smaller than its maximum size, and that it's on the far side of its orbit relative to us.

As for naked eye visibility, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all visible to the naked eye when they are suitably positioned in the sky. None of them ever appear as a disk to the naked eye; they look like bright stars.

Currently, you can see Jupiter in the early evening. From the Northern hemisphere, it's the brightest "star" in the southwest (northwest from the Southern hemisphere). With binoculars, you can see the positions of its four largest moons change from night to night. With a telescope, you can see its bands and spots.

Answer 5

Mars has a close approach to the earth about every two years. Some approaches are closer than others, however, due to the ellipticity of the orbits, and the last couple have been closer than usual. It is never close enough to show a solid disk to the naked eye, but does show one through a small telescope.

Answer 6

Here is a serious answer: yes, Mars will be closer, but you will only be able to notice it as a bright star, slightly brighter than it usually shows up. You see, when Mars is available in our nigfht sky, we can always see it, but since Earth and Mars are coming to the closest points possible, Mars will merely appear slightly more brilliant, and you may be able to notice a slight pinkishness to its appearance. It will not in any way be like the size of the moon, as the moon is much closer to Earth. Mars will remain tens of millions of miles away from Earth; check out the link below for more info

Answer 7

Mars is not always close this time of year. But the email hoax about Mars seems to always be upon us this time of year. Using links from 2003 to justify the notion of it being true this year really doesn't make sense, does it?

Answer 8

A big hoax went around via the internet that mars would appear as big as the moon. Originally it was said it would get that big like 6 months ago, and the rumor spurt up again recently and they said it would happen again soon, not sure when but all that is important is that its a bunch of lies.

Answer 9

Actually, right now Mars is about as *far* as it gets from Earth, it's currently on the other side of the Sun as viewed from Earth. So you can't see it at all right now. It won't be easy to view again until late this year/early next year.

I'm glad you and your friends are excited about astronomy, and good for you for looking for the truth! That makes you smart, in my opinion :-)

Answer 10

Mars will never come that close. Generally when you hear these things been reported on the news, you will be able to take it for face value. Other than that, it's generally just hype.