My mom wasn't sure if it was true either, but said she thought she'd share it anyway:
Planet Mars is coming closer to the earth and will be the brightest planet in our night sky starting in August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. It will maximize on August 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of earth.
Be sure to watch the sky on August 27 at 12:30 a.m. It will look like the earth has two moons. The next time Mars may come this close is 2287. Share this with your friends, as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE IT AGAIN.
2007-08-04 13:25:04 · 18 answers · asked by Kaylin 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Not quite...hold on, I'll be back with details
This is an old rumor and although Mars will be close, it's not going to be that close. Check out this website...it will give you all the info you need.
http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp
2007-08-04 13:28:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Another urban legend masquerading as some kind of ignorant science fact.
No, Mars is not coming closer to the Earth (boy, I'd like to get my hands on whoever started this one, its so completely wrong and just plain stupid).
Mars is never closer than 36 MILLION miles from Earth, most of the time its a lot further than that. It never appears any larger than a bright star, even at its closest approach.
The planets are all in relatively stable orbits around the sun, and the only way a planet could come our way would be for a large gravitational mass to disturb their orbits (and a mass that large would be visible, and it would disturb other planet orbits, not just Mars).
If it were coming this way, we would have known about it for YEARS. After all, we have probes in orbit around Mars and 2 robot rovers on it right now. It would have made headlines in all the papers and on CNN for years, it would be all anyone talks about.
Some "email" from someone would not be how we would hear about something this significant happening in less than a month.
So here is what is going on.
On August 27 there will be a lunar eclipse - the moon will pass into Earth's shadow. And because of the moon's orbit, it will actually pass into the deeper part of Earth's shadow (called the umbra) instead of just the lighter part of the shadow (the penumbra) as it did in March.
When the moon is eclipsed, it takes on a red colour due to sunlight skimming the Earth's atmosphere (therefore taking on a red colour like during sunset) and colouring the light the moon reflects back to us a red colour.
So what someone heard or saw was that the moon will appear red (similar to what Mars would look like if it were the size of the moon).
I have to admit, I love the additional bit of "scientific" information tossed in, like it will come within 34.65 miles of Earth (that's lower than most satellites orbit, by the way).
And that it won't be that close again unilt 2287. Since these are such exact (yet COMPLETELY wrong) numbers they lend the whole piece of trash some air of truth.
And if Mars did get as close as 34.65 miles, you're right, no one alive would see it again because it would completely destroy the Earth, the moon, and Mars from the gravitational interactions.
2007-08-04 20:55:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
That is a hoax.
Not really a deliberate hoax, but a big mistake.
Mars will not come near Earth this August, but it did back in August of 2003. At that time someone said that with a small telescope you would be able to see Mars as well as you can see the Moon without a telescope. That story got repeated without mention of the telescope and it has been repeated every summer ever since. In reality, even at the closest it can get, Mars just looks like a bright star without a telescope. And Mars isn't even going to get unusually close this year.
2007-08-04 20:29:27 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Last year, this same email went around and people all over the world went out that night, some even having mars parties. Then some of them came crying on this site saying they never saw anything.
I shake my head at people's misunderstanding of space. We live in the space age and most people don't know a darned thing about it.
Why not go check facts before you check on here (or just sit down and think about it for a while). Then you would know that Mars NEVER comes closer than 150 times as far away as the moon.
2007-08-04 21:10:07 · answer #4 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Okay. This has been going around for years. The fact is, Mars DID make an extremely close pass to the earth back in 2005. It was the closest Mars has ever been to Earth. However, it did NOT look anything like the full moon. It looked like a red star. Mars will never get close enough to loook like the full moon. If you want more information on this hoax, go here:
http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp
2007-08-04 20:34:50 · answer #5 · answered by Mashiara 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Sorry, it's a hoax from people who get emails and send them on without checking the facts.Mars will be more than 50 million miles from earth all year and next year. Right now it is getting closer and will be closest this year in December.
2007-08-04 21:02:22 · answer #6 · answered by Renaissance Man 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This happened on August 27, 2003 and ever since then, that email goes around every year.
2007-08-06 01:54:39 · answer #7 · answered by Tara V 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you want to find out what really is happening in the sky check out the link below.
There is a meteor shower on August 13 that should be a good one.
2007-08-04 20:38:51 · answer #8 · answered by Melius 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it's a hoax because if Mars is that close, then there will be a gravity conflict between two planets... It's just my opinion... =D
2007-08-05 04:05:08 · answer #9 · answered by 'Chibisuke' 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes! Mars will be at it's closest distance from earth at this period of time but will not appear as big as the moon "Quote on the local news paper".
2007-08-04 20:38:36 · answer #10 · answered by Chuen 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋