When to view the two moon appearance of mars and our moon?

Question

We live in Minnesota and heard that Mars will be so close to us that it will appear as though we have two moons on (I believe Aug 27th at 12:38AM) we need to know if it would be visible enough on the evening before to still get the same effect or will it only happen at that exact time? Does it change the time depending on where you live or can everyone all over the world see it at the same time?

Answer 1

Mars will look about the same size and brightness as ALDEBARAN, the bright red giant that is the eye of the bull and the brightest star in Taurus on 27/08/2007 and Mars will be very close to Aldebaran in the sky at the time, as it is in Taurus at the moment. (Find the Pleiades and you are getting warm ...)

So it will look like Taurus the bull has two red, bloodshot eyes! I hope that compensates you for the disappointment you are bound to feel at being hoaxed ...

For hoaxed you have been!

You have received a hoax e-mail. They 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

This is a HOAX that has been perpetrated every August for the last few years.

The original story:

In August, 2003, Mars had an "opposition" (close approach) to earth. Mars actually has an opposition every couple of years; however, the 2003 opposition brought it closer to earth than it had been for about 60,000 years.

(But not MUCH closer, mind you. This "close approach" was only about 10% closer than the 2001 opposition and the 2005 opposition. In fact, every 15 years or so, there's a "really good" opposition which is practically indistinguishable from the 2003 opposition.)

Anyway, even though the 2003 opposition was only a BIT better than other oppositions, it made the headlines because it broke the 60,000 year "record" by just a hair.

As a result, there were lots of news stories and emails about it. In one version of the story, it was stated (correctly) that if you were to view Mars THROUGH A SMALL TELESCOPE, it would appear about the same size as the full moon appears TO THE NAKED EYE.

Well, this got misinterpreted as the story got copied and recopied. Pretty soon, people were saying that Mars and the Moon would appear to be the same size. They left out the part about having to look at Mars through a telescope.

And, to make matters worse, the story seems to resurface every August. They just change the "2003" to whatever the current year is.

In fact, there is an opposition this year, but it's not until December. At that time, Mars will be roughly (though not quite) as close as it was in the summer of 2003. And if you look at it through a telescope of about 80x magnification, it will look roughly as big as the full moon.

Answer 3

You have heard wrong (I don't believe how gullible people are about the most basic astronomical information).

Mars is never closer than 36 million miles, and will never appear any larger in our sky than a bright star.

The Aug 27 date refers to a lunar eclipse, when the moon will pass into Earth's shadow and as a result will take on a reddish colour (from the sunlight skimming our atmosphere at sunset and colouring the small amount of light that hits the moon reddish).

Answer 4

Yes you can see mars every night .. yes it is about to be closer than it hardly ever is .. no it will look nothing at all like the full moon (that is a gross exageration). It will gradually grow brighter as it draws closer and then will gradually dim as it recedes. It will look much the same on the nights before the 27th as well as the nights afterwards as this isn't an instant thing.

Answer 5

That is not going to happen. This myth started in 2003 when Mars did come unusually close to Earth, and has been repeated every summer ever since. But even in 2003 it never got close enough to look like anything other than a bright star. This year Mars will not pass close to Earth until winter, and even then it won't be as close as it was in 2003.

Answer 6

Did you or someone you know get this info from an email? Well, I got this info from an email a while back and looked it up to see it it's true. It's is a HOAX email. It's impossible for this to happen because it would radically shift the Earth's gravitational pull and we could all be screwed up!! Google it and you'll see it's FAKE.

Answer 7

This is only a hoax. The planet Mars will never look as large as the moon.

Answer 8

Mars will be 34 and a half MILLION miles away. The moon is roughly 500,000 miles away. They are roughly the same size. From what I told you, do YOU think they will look the same?

Answer 9

Everyone will be disappointed at the same time. Because it ain't
gonna happen.. When you receive junk emails you should check out the facts before you go spreading nonsense on the internet.

Answer 10

INTERNET HOAX!!

Go check out Snopes.com:
http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp

The same piece of trash was published last month claiming that it would be Pluto that looked as large as the moon. What a crock!