I received this in an Email from a friend and if it's true, then that's very interesting! Does anyone know if this is true or not?...


Mars

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. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification

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.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.

Share this with your children and grandchildren.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN



Well I will certainly be having a look tonight to check! If there are any budding astrologists reading who would like to substantiate this or take some wicked photos tonight that would be great!

Hi

As far as I know this is true :-) But was in 2003 :-(

I seem to remember peering at something vague and blurry through a telescope from my back garden!

FG

Nope! check this (http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp) out.

Originally posted by Andy78
Nope! check this (http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp) out.

That just proves what fancygirl just said :lol:

Yes it will be bright, but nowhere near as bright as when it came very close in 2003.

Originally posted by KATIEB_23

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

It's gonna have to get catastrophically close for that to happen.....

Originally posted by RPG
That just proves what fancygirl just said :lol:

Yes it will be bright, but nowhere near as bright as when it came very close in 2003.

And that is NOWHERE near as bright as the moon. Rumour is a terrible thing.

Aah, I'm all disappointed now!

Oh Well.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
It's gonna have to get catastrophically close for that to happen.....

I got caught by that trap too. If you re-read it it claims to be that big via a 75x telescope.

I'm sure there's already a thread about this somewhere....fairly recent too.

If I remember rightly from that, this is a scam e-mail that's doing the rounds, and the dates and times, and most of the facts are incorrect....Mars apparently came closer to Earth a couple of years ago, but it is going to be relatively close, although further away than 2003, either later this year or sometime next year.

There were links to different websites with the real facts on that other thread.