Mars closeup?

[WOWspaceISbig]

I heard recently that Mars is going to be closer to Earth than it has in thousands of years and that it will be as big as the full moon by the end of the month. Did anybody else hear something like this?

[Le Chacal]

Uh ? Mars as big as the full moon ?

Mars WAS closer than it had been in centuries last year if i'm not wrong.

And even when Mars is very close in opposition with earth (when earth is between Mars and the sun) there is always 60 millions km...

That's more than 150 times the distance between Earth and moon...

[t00fri]

I heard recently that Mars is going to be closer to Earth than it has in thousands of years and that it will be as big as the full moon by the end of the month. Did anybody else hear something like this?

Wuff ...

The full moon is about 1/2 degree = 30 arcmins = 1800 arcsecs in size. Mars will get close to 20 arcsecs in the coming opposition (Oct-30) which is quite respectable.

So you were "off target" by a factor 1800/20 = 90!


Bye Fridger

[WOWspaceISbig]

Well, in that case it sounds like the e-mail I read was exaggerating (and possibly outdated). I doubted that Mars could be so big and bright anyway, unless it was 150+ times bigger than the Moon (and it definitely isn't), which would mean that it would appear as big as the Sun, which, in the case of the Moon, is how we get solar eclipses.
On an interactive sky chart that I use, Mars rises at 10 pm (which is what the email said) and is high up in the sky at 3 am (which was something like what the email said), so at least it was right about one thing!

[d.m.falk]

http://planetary.org/news/2005/mars_spectacular_0807.html

d.m.f.

[buggs_moran]

Misinformation my friend...the internet is RAMPANT with it... The article forgot to say you need 30 cm diameter pupils and 140x vision...

Check out http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005 ... rshoax.htm

While you are there, sign up for their newsletter
http://science.nasa.gov/news/subscribe.asp

another great one here
http://www.spaceweather.com/

[t00fri]

"The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.... Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN. "

Incredible that this NONSENSE even has a chance of catching on! Unfortunately, it seems that many people even sold their common sense in the all-dominating desire of making (nothing but) money...

Bye Fridger

[WOWspaceISbig]

Yes, unfortunately there is a lot of trash on the internet, but then again that's what you get when pea-brains get into the media....
Fortunately, I doubted this was possible or I would have to smack myself in the head all day long saying, "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

[buggs_moran]

Incredible that this NONSENSE even has a chance of catching on! Unfortunately, it seems that many people even sold their common sense in the all-dominating desire of making (nothing but) money...

Bye Fridger

It's not even about the money most times, just about propoganda and 15 minutes (aka 15x10^9 forwarded emails) of fame. People are rediculously gullible, especially if they never were given the chance to learn, never took the time to learn, or have stopped learning altogether. Their Curiosit?  is NOT dead, otherwise they wouldn't even be looking for a full Moon sized Mars.

It is up to people like us, those who have not stopped learning to demonstrate what we know. Write back to the people who send these emails and all other rediculous chain letters. Show them the truth. Common sense is not common if there is no knowledge to back it up...

_______________________________________________
BTW, this is MY personal favorite, oh the pain. In the email I recieved there was more misinformation about how this had just appeared in the sky... I wrote back to all she had forwarded this to, with links to the Hubble site and actual timespans and distances and how they relate to us. Quite frankly, I hope people then found it MUCH MORE amazing.

Subject: Fw: Eye of God

This is a picture taken by NASA with the Hubble telescope. They are referring to it as the "Eye of God". I thought it was beautiful and worth sharing.

The Eye of God

[walk_in_shadows]

t00fri is right, except the ratio of the moon and mars in size to the naked eye is 900.lmao...so it's slim to none to see mars prodominately with the naked eye...get a pair of bonoculars and you'll prolly see it decently.