There’s a Mars hoax?
According to the NASA science webpage, there’s a Mars hoax where many people mistakenly believe that Mars is approaching the Earth so closely that it will be as bright as the full moon.
There’s a rumor going around. You might have heard it at a 4th of July BBQ or family get-together. More likely you’ve read it on the Internet. It goes like this:
“The Red Planet is about to be spectacular.”
“Earth is catching up with Mars [for] the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.”
“On August 27th … Mars will look as large as the full moon.”
And finally, “NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN.”
I must confess that I’ve not heard or read this. But I don’t get many forwarded emails, and I don’t hang out with many people that believe everything they read on the Internet.
In any event, Mars could never approach Earth so closely with no consequences for those living on Earth. This would be plastered all over the news if it were to happen: the tide alone would be all sorts of messed up. The moon creates the tides, and Mars is much more massive than the moon. Consequently, we would be having extreme tides unlike anything ever seen on Earth at any point in its history if Mars were to get that close. And it would play havoc with Earth’s orbit around the sun (and also likely also the rotation of the Earth on its axis).
So what is the truth?
The truth is that Mars will be converging with Earth on October 13 to a distance of 69 million kilometers. This isn’t even the closest that the two planets have been: in August of 2003, the Earth and Mars were 56 million kilometers apart. Nonetheless, the results of this convergence will be just as spectacular as it was two years ago:
Sixty-nine million km is good. At that distance, Mars shines brighter than anything else in the sky except the Sun, the Moon and Venus. The visual magnitude of Mars on Oct. 30, 2005, will be -2.3. Even inattentive sky watchers will notice it, rising at sundown and soaring overhead at midnight.
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Pingback by polyscience.org » The fury of a brightening Mars — September 22, 2005 @ 3:47 pm