this is a statement, not a question.?

Question

for all those who care, i keep getting e-mails saying to look at mars on the night of aug. 27. so it says, mars is supposed to be as big as the moon on this night. i have it marked down on my calender just in case this really won't happen for another 10,000 years (or something like that). HOPE YOU ALL CHECK IT OUT!!!

Answer 1

Sorry - another internet hoax.
It would be neat if true.

Answer 2

Sorry, this is an Internet hoax that started back in 2003 and has been circulating every year ever since. As it turns out, Aug. 27, Mars is on the opposite side of the sun from us, so it'll be as small as it can possibly get from our vantage point. Still visible as a slightly reddish dot on the horizon around dawn, but it'll never look as big as the moon.

Answer 3

August 27th is the day the Martians invade Earth. of course Mars will be as big as the moon this night. And, every night after for the next 10,000 years. Why? Because we'll all be enslaved by the little green men. For reals.

Answer 4

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.

At this time Mars is behind the sun and won't return to visibility until December 2006.

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.

Sources:

Many years of experience in high-precision computation of planetary orbits, math, astronomy and physics.
http://neoprogrammics.com/astronomy/

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

Answer 5

Thank you. Did you know that Pluto is in need of your help.
Scientist have now declared that Pluto is not a planet. What's next? Any adult that isn't more then 4'10" is not human. We need to make a stand now or all will be lost. Just because you're not what is consider normal, does that mean that we should be banished. It's the raindeer games and Rudolph all over again. Now is the time to stand for the different guy!

Answer 6

That email you got is a crock!

In August, <<2006>>, the closest Mars will come to Earth is 232,392,825.9 miles (August 1st). <> Mars came within 34,646,418 miles of Earth on August 28, 2003, the closest it's been in the last 50,000 years. Regardless of what you've been told, it was NOT as large as the full moon.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mars_preview_021108.html
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mars/mars_orbit.html

Answer 7

Thank you for the reminder.

10,000 years til the next one? I bet it'll be overcast for me

Answer 8

This canard has been running around for some time now. I read a response that thoroughly debunks this. 'Tain't so, guys and gals.

Answer 9

it's a hoax.....the closest it has ever been was in 2003 and then just looked like a big star. sorry.....i thought it would be cool, too.

Answer 10

sorry it happened in 2003