is it true that we will be able to see Mars on the 27th by naked eye?

Answer 1

If you mean 27th August 2006, afraid not. Not unless you have X-ray vision like Superman and can see through the sun, as Mars is currently on the far side iof the Sun at the moment and at least 220,000,000 (220 million) miles away,

So the story couldn't be much further from the truth and Mars could not be much further from the earth.

It won't be visible again till December 2006 and the next close approach is not until 24th December 2007,

As has been correctly pointed out you don't give a date and nor does the hoax e-mail that is circulating, which is a garbled version of what WAS true on August 27th 2003. When a close approach of 34,500,000 miles took place.

Lacking a year being mentioned, people have been assuming that when it says "27th August" that must mean THIS 27th August but that assumption is incorrect. Mars will be 6 or 7 times as far away, this August as it was in August 2003.

That hoax e-mail has done the rounds 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.

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.

An e-mail going around can be read as suggesting that the close approach of Mars and Earth of 27 August 2003 (see the CNN News story below) will occur THIS 27th August, 2006. It won't! It has already happened,

Such close approacvhes 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)

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? Mars would have to be only twice as far away as the Moon, i.e. less than half 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:

Those who say "Let's wait and see if its true on August 27th" and hope against hope that it is, are deluding themselves, 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,

So you don't need to wait till 27th August! The answer is known now. And there is no "well, it might be true" uncertainty about it. You can look it up on the NASA and other reputable websites. Taking refuge in "well, it might be true" is really just a way of refusing to admit and acknowledge that you (and thousands of others) have been duped,

If you still believe it "could" still come true, then what you are saying is that Mars will somehow manage to beetle back around half its orbit in ten days, i.e. traverse a semi-circular arc, measuring some 443,950,000 miles, a journey that normally takes Mars 50 weeks to complete! And its maximum orbital velocity is known to be a mere 59,277 mph. Even at maximum speed all the time (which would conflict with Kepler's Laws) that would still take Mars 44.58 weeks! So it isn't going to happen, is it?

And the notion of "I will keep a look out for it on the 27th" is a foolish one. It won't be there,

Answer 2

No; as it turns out, right now, Mars is on the other side of the sun from us and is completely invisible. This is a bad astronomy joke that has been emailed around since 2003, and states that it will appear as big as the moon -- won't happen, sorry. When Mars is visible in the night sky, it appears as an unusually bright star with a slightly reddish tint to it. It's visible more clearly through even the cheapest telescopes, though you obviously need a beefier lens if you want to see real details.

Answer 3

at first, Mars is seen to the bare eye countless the time. yet only finding like a action picture star. Secondly, it having an intensive thoughts-set this August is a hoax that has have been given out of hand. It has long previous loopy. Do you no longer think of for a 2d? If Mars became into going to look as great because of the fact the moon, would not this is almost as great the day previously,and the day previously that? how the heck might it suddely look as great because of the fact the moon. people, think of previously you have self belief those issues. additionally a rapid verify of the relative distances of Moon and Mars in any encyclopedia will inform you.

Answer 4

The current urban legend is that Mars will be particularly large on that date. While this was true in 2003 (although exaggerations that it will be "as large as the moon" are far from true), it may be possible to see Mars on the 27th. Seeing Mars in the sky isn't that unusual.

See also reference 1.

Answer 5

Yes. Actually you can see mars in the sky almost all the time, it just looks like a star for the most part. However I think you're saying that it'll be closer and it won't be, that emails been going around for YEARS. August 27, 2003 was when it was the closest to the earth. You're 3 years too late.

Answer 6

As others have said, you can see Mars with the naked eye quite often, assuming you know what you're looking for. You can also see Venus and Mercury as well.

Answer 7

The angular separation of Mars and the sun is too small this month to easily see it with the naked eye.

Answer 8

Its not that uncommon just a couple of years ago Mars was the closest to the Earth that it had been in many years.

Answer 9

You can catch mars in the evenings before sunset if you are in the northern hemispeher. You will see at as the biggest (untwinkling) star.

Answer 10

it may look like a star but it will not show as large as the moon (i recieved the same e-mail, NASA has no information on it, it is false and completely impossible for mars to even appear that large from the speculated distance) it is just one of those stupid internet rumors.

Answer 11

Yes, it's amazing, I sit out and watch the stars alot and how beautiful.... I live in Lake Havasu Arizona and we have the most beautiful skies in the world and the stars, OMG , billions, and we can see mars , it is one of the brightest.... fascinates me....