Will Mars come close to earth later this month and be about the size of the moon?

Question

Heard that this is happening at present because of the gravity pull of jupiter. It will be very clear on the 27th of August when it will be the same size as the moon, I've been told that this could not happen. But also told that this will not occur again for another 60,00 years. Suppose my legs being pulled.

Answer 1

Radtadstar's information is recycled and wrong. The October 30th close approach has already happened and was in 2005 and there isnt a further close approach till December 2007. The interval between close approaches is 26 months:

August 2003, October 2005 and then December 2007.

You are right to be suspicious.

Mars is on the far side of the sun right now and won't even be visible again till December. So the story couldn't be further from the truth and Mars could not be further from the earth.

Mars was the closest it has been for 60,000 years on 27th August 2003, There won't be another such Very Close Encounter till 2287 but there is a Fairly Close Encounter every 26 months.

What you have picked up on is a hoax doing the rounds as it has every August since 2003. August gets called the silly season as there is not much news and so people make news up and recycle old news.

An e-mail is going around suggesting that the close approach ("perihelic opposition") of Mars and Earth of 27 August 2003 (see the CNN News story below) will occur THIS 27th August, 2006. It won't!

Such perihelic oppositions occur once every 26 months, The Martian Year is 1.88 Earth Years so when we have done 2 and a bit orbits Mars has done 1 and a bit orbits and we are close together again.

Therefore, after an August 2003 Close Encounter, the next one was in October 2005 and the next Close Encounter after that is not until December 2007,

There is no close approach this year.

Central to the hoax going around is the Baron Von Munchausen attention-grabbing fairy story that Mars will look as big as our Moon. Unlikely and untrue,

Which would you rather believe: an anonymous, unsolicited e-mail or the official NASA website?

I went to NASA's Kids Website which told me:

"View in 2006
Mars begins the year as a moderately bright orange star in the constellation Aries. It will grow fainter through the end of summer, when it will disappear in the Sun's glare. Mars will re-emerge in the morning sky in late December. In March, it will pass quite close to Aldebaran, the star that marks the “eye” of Taurus, the bull. Mars and Aldebaran will look like twins, with near-identical color and brightness."

You don't need to be a genius to work out that if it is getting fainter it is getting further away, and if it is disappearing into the sun's glare that can only be because it is on the far side of the sun from us i.e. Mars' position in its orbit is 180 degrees away from our position in our orbit and we are pretty well the maximum possible distance apart in August 2006.

If you know (and you can easily look this up) that the Martian Year is 1.88 Earth Years then again you don't have to be a genius to work out that the one time it WON'T be near to us is an exact number of twelvemonths since the last-but-one time it was close to us on 27th August 2003, We will be in roughly the same place as we were 3 years ago, but Mars will only have done approx 1,6 orbits (1.5957 in fact) around the sun in that time, which explains why it is now on the far side of the sun and at about the farthest distance away it gets,

The fantastical idea that Mars could possibly look the same size as the Moon can easily be refuted. At its closest approach it is 35 million miles away, whereas the Moon averages 238,000 miles away i.e. the distances are in ratio >140:1.

The diameters are in ratio 2:1 however (Mars has a diameter of 6780 kms and the Moon of 3474 kms) and so the areas of the discs they present to the naked eye are in ratio 4:1 (pi R^2: pi r^2, where R = 2r)

So, think about it: how can the number of arc seconds that Mars' disc presents to the naked eye possibly be the same as the number of arc seconds that the Moon's disc presents? If the disc is 4 times the size of the Moon's disc, Mars would have to be only four times as far away as the Moon, i.e. less than a million miles away, for that to happen.

and

(a) that never happens

(b) If it did happen, you'd soon know about it as giant tidal waves caused by Mars' gravity would sweep the Earth, making the Tsunamai look like a Sunday School picnic.

So not only can you look it up on reputable websites to discover this is nonsense, you can also work it out for yourself that it must be nonsense.

Much closer to the truth is that next March Mars will look about the same size and brightness as Aldebaran, in Taurus, the 13th brightest star in the sky, And they are both red. They will be a matched pair, but Mars and the Moon will never be one.

HERE IS THE STORY CNN CARRIED IN 2003

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

-

Final comment from me: the "Let's wait and see if its true on August 27th" argument is self-deluding, Mankind has been calculating and predicting planetary orbits and positions with increasing precision for 2000 years now, Kepler's 3 Laws of Planetary Motion have been known for 400 years, The answer is known now. Just look it up on a reputable website.

Answer 2

There is an email circulating in cyberspace saying that the red planet Mars will be exceptionally close on 27 August (2006). According to one version"It will look like the Earth has two moons".
Once again, this is a good lesson in not believing everything on the Internet. The email is a hoax describing in somewhat exaggerated fashion the events of 2003. On 27 August 2003 Mars was only 55.8 million kilometres away which is almost the closest possible distance it can be from Earth. To the unaided eye it looked like a shining red beacon while through a telescope a small red disc could bee seen with some dark features visible.
In late August this year(2006) Mars is faint and just visible after sunset low in the western sky.

Answer 3

Mars isn't coming near this August there is an e mail circulating in our on-line world asserting that the red planet Mars will be highly close on 27 August (2006). in accordance to at least one version “it truly is going to appear as if the Earth has 2 moons”!!! once back it truly is an effective lesson in not believing each and every little thing on the internet. the e-mail is a hoax describing in a extremely exaggerated style the events of 2003. On 27 August 2003 Mars became purely fifty 5.8 million kilometres away it truly is particularly a lot the nearest conceivable distance it would want to be from Earth. To the unaided eye it appeared like a shining red beacon even as by ability of a telescope a small red disc might want to be seen with some darkish positive houses seen. In previous due August this 12 months (2006) Mars is faint and only seen after sundown low interior the western sky.

Answer 4

Yes both your legs and arms are being pulled. This is an e-mail hoax going around as it does every August, Mars is actually on the far side of the sun, some 220,000,000 or more miles away. Not even visible at the moment,

It WAS at the closest to us in 60,000 years in 2003. What's happened is that old news is being recycled without a year date attached and people think it means this year. The "as big as our moon" notion is pure fantasy,

Search for Mars Hoax on the internet or read what NASA has to say on this.

Answer 5

I heard about the Mars hoax and the answer is no . I'll tell you the real scoop on it . In 2003 it was in fact true ! Mars was the closest it's ever been on August 27 2003 .
The next year a New York Observatory reprinted the story again on the August 27th date for a joke . Around the states on the local news it came on and they said " The latest Mars craze is going on again this year , It was said to be started again by a new york observatory as a joke and well it's been listed as spam. And it currently is circulating the internet as a forward . We spoke to our local astronomers to get the story and they showed us where Mars is . Under the horizon till next year. t's completely not true this year , It did actually happen last in 2003 as we all know but this time it's a joke. an April fools joke . No madness intended . " So it's been floating around for 2 years . Actually there is alot of it going around, crazy emails floating areound of it , observatory phones ringing off the hook .
It has turned into one big hoax . For further reading put in Mars Hoax into google & google news .
Next year the Mars Hoax will float again I bet !

Answer 6

No. You got it very mixed up. Mars was close a few years ago, but it is never closer to us than Venus. The orbit of Mars comes close every 14 years. The difference between the CLOSEST close and the FARTHEST close is about 930,000 miles. That means that the closest pass is still 35,340,000 million miles away and the farthest close pass is 36,270,000 miles away. During the next close pass in 2018, Mars will be about 36,270,000 miles away.

;-D All these numbers are quick estimates. Don't be picky!

Answer 7

Here is a quote:

Why are we rushing toward Mars? It's simple orbital mechanics. Think of Earth and Mars as two runners on a circular race track, with lanes corresponding to planetary orbits. Earth, running fast on the inside lane, circles the course in 12 months. Mars, plodding along an outside lane, takes twice as long to go around. Every two years, approximately, Earth catches Mars from behind and laps it.

That's where we are now, approaching Mars from behind. Relative speed: 23,500 mph.

We won't actually lap Mars until autumn, October 30th at 0319 Universal Time, to be exact. Only 43 million miles (69 million km) will separate us from Mars, then, compared to an average distance of about 140 million miles (225 million kilometers). It's a great time to send spacecraft there.

Now my opinion is that you might have missed the previous Mars approach but like it says every two years you could take a close look at Mars through a telescope and it looks the same to me. If you have a super telescope or just one that NASA uses then you would probably makes a big difference in resolution. Yet with a regular telescope it looks the same but it is fun outing just to look at Mars.

Answer 8

Mars will be as close as hasn't been in over 5000 years, and this will be repeat it only in about 160000 years from today...
It will be seen really large in the east of heaven... but it wouldn't ever be as big as the moon... do your mathematics... there is several millions of miles as a difference...

Answer 9

No, Mars will not be the size of the moon; it will be as BRIGHT as the moon. And yes, it is true that this will not occur for another 60,000 years or so.

Answer 10

That big flap about Mars being brighter than the moon, or looking as large as the moon, or being closer to Earth in 2006 than it's ever been before is a big, fat LIE. Somebody's going around spreading this falsehood, probably through ignorance.

The close approach to Mars to Earth happened on 27 August 2003. Three years ago! If you missed it then, you'll have to wait for the next of Mars' closest passes.

Mars' orbit and Earth's orbit approach each other by a minimum distance of 0.372669 astronomical units. One astronomical unit is equal by definition to exactly 149,597,870,691 meters, which is about equal to 92,955,807 miles. So the orbits of Mars and Earth have a minimum separation of about 34,642,000 miles. In order for this minimum separation to be achieved, both Earth and Mars must be in exactly the right spot in their respective orbits, which is at 330.145 degrees heliocentric longitude for Earth and 330.337 degrees heliocentric longitude for Mars.

The technical way to refer to these passes of Earth by Mars is "Earth and Mars in conjunction with respect to the sun." Another way to say it is "Mars and the sun are in opposition with respect to Earth." It means the same thing, namely, Earth reaching the point in its orbital lap where it passes the slower Mars.

Mars and Earth have a conjunction about every 780 days (on the average). But typically the distance of closest approach is something like 54.8 million miles, which is what it will be on the NEXT conjunction on 18 December 2007. There will be no conjunction in 2006.

But the really close conjunctions occur at intervals of 15 or 17 years - usually. The special thing about the pass in 2003 was the fact that it was marginally closer than any other pass in recorded history. Not spectacularly closer. Only marginally so. It set a record that won't be broken until the year 2208 (and then not by much).

Here are the closest passes between Mars and Earth between 2003 and 2287. (The list includes all minimum approach distances less than about 0.4 AU.)

27 August 2003, 0.3729 AU
30 July 2018, 0.3846 AU
9 September 2035, 0.3805 AU
13 August 2050, 0.3742 AU
17 July 2065, 0.3991 AU
23 September 2067, 0.3970 AU
28 August 2082, 0.3736 AU
31 July 2097, 0.3818 AU
12 September 2114, 0.3831 AU
15 August 2129, 0.3733 AU
19 July 2144, 0.3950 AU
25 September 2146, 0.4012 AU
29 August 2161, 0.3748 AU
2 August 2176, 0.3793 AU
13 September 2193, 0.3861 AU
18 August 2208, 0.3727 AU
22 July 2223, 0.3913 AU
1 September 2240, 0.3763 AU
6 August 2255, 0.3772 AU
15 September 2272, 0.3895 AU
20 August 2287, 0.3726 AU

Mars will be visible at other times, of course. But those are the days when it will be the brightest. But even when Mars is at one of these closest conjunctions, it is still much dimmer than the moon is.

Mars has an apparent magnitude at such times of -2.8. The moon's apparent magnitude, when full, is -12.6. The way the scale is set up, the more largely negative the number is, the brighter it is. Not only that, the scale is logarithmic, with a base equal to the fifth root of 100, or about 2.51186. So the full moon is 8318 times brighter than Mars ever gets.

Nor does Mars' size in our sky ever get anywhere close to the Moon's size. Mars' physical diameter is 6794 kilometers, so at it's nearest possible approach to Earth, it's angular diameter would be 25.14 arcseconds. The moon's angular diameter is about half a degree (it varies slightly), which is 1800 arcseconds. So Mars never gets bigger than about one seventy-first (1/71) of the moon's size.

Mars' orbital elements.
a = 1.523688 AU
e = 0.093405
i = 1.8497 degrees
L = 49.5574 degrees
w = 286.5016 degrees
T = JD 2447385.9

Earth's orbital elements.
a = 1.00000011 AU
e = 0.016761
i = defined zero
L = defined zero
w = 102.846 degrees
T = JD 2446799.26

There's a mathematical procedure to solve for the heliocentric positions of a planet for any time you choose, once you know the planet's orbital elements. You'll find that procedure given in great detail here:

http://www.jabpage.org/posts/trans2.html

After you've solved for the positions of Earth and Mars, each with respect to the sun, you can apply the distance formula (sometimes called the three-dimensional Pythagorean Theorem) to get the distance between Earth and Mars. If you program all that into a computer, you can just flip forward or backward in time until you locate the minimum distances and the associated calendar date.

The "T" number in the orbital element tables is the "time of perihelion passage," the moment when the planet is nearest to the sun. It is customarily given in Julian Date format, which is a rolling count of days since that day in 4004 BC, on which, Bishop Ussher's scholarly Bible research informed him, God created the world.

There are formulas that can convert Julian Date to Calendar Date, or vice versa. But it's probably easier to use somebody else's program, which you can find at

http://wwwmacho.mcmaster.ca/JAVA/JD.html
http://wwwmacho.mcmaster.ca/JAVA/CD.html

Don't believe everything you hear about celestial events. There's always some ignorant yahoo out to impress others with some sort of "special knowledge" that he supposedly has.

Answer 11

I receive an email saying that...so just wait and see...last year happened though and I saw it, but as big as moon.