Mars Hoax Circulates: 'Big as the Moon!'

By Joe Rao
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist
posted: 19 May 2009
02:37 pm ET

Once again it appears that a Mars hoax that has widely circulated through
the Internet since its first appearance during the summer of 2004 has begun
to circulate yet again. It comes in the form of an e-mail message titled
"Mars Spectacular," which originated from an unknown source.

In turn, this message has gotten passed on to others who couldn't resist
forwarding it to their entire address book.

The e-mail declares that on the night of Aug. 27, the planet Mars will come
closer to Earth than it has in the past 60,000 years, thereby offering
spectacular views of the Red Planet.  The commentary even proclaims, with
liberal use of exclamation marks, that Mars will appear as bright as (or as
large as) the full moon.

The problem is that "Aug. 27" is actually Aug. 27, 2003. Mars made a
historically close pass by Earth that night (34.6 million miles, or 55.7
million km). The Hubble Space Telescope used the opportunity to make a great
photo of Mars. But even then, to the naked eye Mars appeared as nothing more
than an extremely bright yellowish-orange star, not at all like the full
moon.

More at:

https://www.space....­


NOTE:  The next Mars opposition and close approach to Earth will be on
January 29, 2010, and it will be approximately 62 million miles distant.

:-J

Gerry Williams
    The Mars Society - San Diego
    https://MarsSanDie...­
    https://groups.yah...­
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"Living on Earth is expensive, but it includes a free trip around the sun."