Can someone tell me more about mars being closer to earth than the moon end of August ?

Answer 1

There is nothing to tell, other than it is not going to happen and what you have gathered is moonshine. The story is normally that Mars will look as big as the Moon, which is preposterous enough already, but rumour has now exaggerated this patently silly story even further to claiming Mars is coming closer to us than the Moon i.e. to less than a quarter of a million miles away. That simply isn't going to happen!

Someone has received a hoax e-mail and repeated its contents from memory, getting the detail wrong in the process. These e-mails circulate every summer. Loads of people must get them because Yahoo! Answers gets loads of questions on this subject.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, (about 60,000 BC) there was a close approach of Mars to Earth of about 34.5 million miles..

Mars did not come that close to Earth again until 27th August 2003. That was worth remarking upon as a memorable occasion and received publicity. These occasions are called perihelic oppositions.

Mars (magnitude -2.9) was marginally brighter than Jupiter (magnitude -2.8) on that date in 2003. However Venus which is both larger than Mars and nearer than Mars is (as you might expect) always brighter than Mars and varies between magnitude -3.8 and - 4.6.

So the statement in the e-mail that Mars is about to become the brightest planet in the night sky is untrue.

The hoaxers do not know much about astronomy. They just sensationalise and distort the limited facts they have managed to pick up without properly understanding them or their implications.

As Venus has never been seen as large as the Moon and Venus is always brighter than Mars, it follows that Mars will not be seen to be as large as the Moon not on 27th August nor at any other time.

The naive belief that it "could be" that large this time just reveals the hoaxers' lack of understanding of how the Sun's gravity keeps the planets in stable orbits, which means the extent to which they vary in their positions is calculable and predictable.

Humanity has been studying and predicting the planets and their orbits for 4,000 years and writing their findings up in almanacs and suddenly someone comes along and declares "an unexpected dramatic change in a stable orbit is about to occur", wlthout explaining why that should be so. And expects to be believed!?

So the hoaxers do not understand that planetary orbits have been observed and carefully calculated and predicted for 4,000 years.

The hoaxers however seem to be suggesting that planets behave unpredictably and chaotically without any pattern or sense to that behaviour, and further, that they the hoaxers, like the Delphic Oracle of old, have unique divination powers and are passing on their knowledge, to which they alone are privy, to lucky old you.

Whereas all they are in fact passing on is misinformation based on their ignorance.

Mars, even at its nearest in 2003, was 140 times as far away as the Moon, and it is only twice its size (Equatorial radius of Mars = 3,402.5 km. Equatorial radius of the Moon = 1,738.14 km.).

So how could an object that is twice the size of the Moon but at least 140 times as far away (more like 220 times as far away in December 2007 when it will be 55 million miles away) ever look as big as the Moon? Does a tomato 140 yards away look as big as a cherry held at arm's length?

The only way Mars could ever appear as large as the Moon is if it were to get as close as half a million miles away,

If it did do that, it would be a disaster, causing huge tidal waves on Earth and tsunamai such as we have not seen the like of before. It would not be a thing to gawp at, and say "Oh wow! Awesome!" and tell all your friends to look out for it at 12.30 am !

But of course it won't do that (come within half a million miles of Earth) as Mars has a stable orbit.

The hoaxers have sent out the same e-mail every summer as regards 27 August 2004, 27 August 2005, 27 August 2006 and now 27 August 2007. Again revealing their ignorance of how the Solar System works. Mars has a year that equals 1.88 Earth years and as a result only comes close to us once every 26 months: on 27th August 2003, and then not again until 30th October 2005 and then not again until 18th December 2007.

The idea of it having a close approach on the same date every year is nonsense therefore, it is not like a wedding anniversary or a birthday or Mothers' Day, As the hoaxers seem to believe,

If anyone had have craned their necks and looked at the skies at 12.30 am on 27 August 2004 or 27th August 2006, all they would have got for their efforts was a stiff neck. As Mars was on the far side of the Sun on those two occasions and nowhere to be seen, as it was hidden behind the Sun's glare.

That is how much the hoaxers know about astronomy. That is how accurate and worthless their predictions are. Nobody should be taken in by their "knowledge" and nobody should copy and spread their e-mail to others so as "to pass on the exciting news" they have just received.

Snopes.com (see link) have a useful article on the hoax.

Answer 2

I think this story emanated from reports of Mars being exceptionally close to the earth lately. However, it is still some thirty million miles away at the closest, compared with the moon being about 230,000 (ie ten times as close).
Because both the earth and mars rotate around the sun in relatively stable orbits, there is no chance of them suddenly coming close together.
What happens however, is that sometimes their position is on the same side of the sun, and at other times their orbits carry them to the opposite side of the sun from each other; when they are much further apart.
Recently, their orbits have been close together, which is why Mars has been closer than normal; but it is still a lot further away than the moon.

Answer 3

That story is totally false. It got started in August of 2003 when Mars did come unusually close. But even at that time it did not get so close as to look as big as the Moon. It never gets closer than about 140 times the distance to the Moon.

Answer 4

You should know that this is the *third* time that email has been sent around. It was first sent out in 2003, and what it said was pretty close to being true. Seeing Mars *through a telescope* would make it look as big as the Moon *to your eye*. People then thought that meant that Mars would be huge in the sky! It got sent around again in 2005 with just some numbers changed. Then it was sent out again this year, 2006, and whoever sent it didn't even change the numbers! So right now, when the email says Mars is closes to us, it's actually *as far away as it can be*! I think that's pretty funny.

Answer 5

False - the story you are looking at is from 2003. The correct story is Mars would look bigger in a backyard telescope than the moon looked to the naked eye. That was August 2003. It is over.

A Mars opposition is coming this year, but it is not the record close that 2003 was. Still, Mars is always stunning at opposition. This year, it is a Christmas star with excellent telescope views all December 2007 and January 2008 with closest date December 24th 2007.

Answer 6

It will not be cloister . From the Sun to the Earth is 1 measurement and it is a little over twice that from the Earth to Mars . That measurement is 93 million miles. To the Moon it is 286,000 miles from the Earth.

Answer 7

On Aug 27, Mars will be very close to Earth, about 34.65 million miles. It will not be this close again until the year 2287. No one alive will ever see it this close again. It is supposed to be spectaculartly bright. But it will definitely NOT be closer than the Moon, which is approximately 1/4 million miles away.
At least, that is the word that is circulating on e-mails now.

Answer 8

Visually, it will be like the earth has 2 moons. But, never that Mars will be closer to earth than the moon. It happens when Mars (in its orbit) is at closest distance with the earth (in its orbit). Though Mars is farther than the moon from the earth, Mars is bigger in size than the moon, so Mars will look like the moon. If I'm not mistaken, it will be best visible on the 27th of August.

Answer 9

Uh...that's not going to happen. The moon will always be closer to earth than Mars.

Answer 10

The planet Mars will be closer to earth [not like the moon thing], but the inhabitants of Mars are amongst us already [Bush, Mugabe....]