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Written by Ken From
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Tuesday, 11 December 2007 |
Every summer for the past few years an e-mail circulates that claims
Mars will appear as large as a full moon in the night sky. This is a
hoax. There is no
truth to it.
Every 26 months the earth overtakes Mars on our shorter, inside track,
around the sun. For several weeks before and after the earth is closest
to Mars, you can notice what appears to be a bright red star in our
sky. Mars orbits the sun in a somewhat elliptical orbit so our distance
from Mars varies each time that we overtake Mars.In August 2003 Mars
was close to the sun while the earth was further from the sun in its
slightly elliptical orbit. This brought the earth closer to Mars than
it had been in 60,000 years. Yet, at this distance Mars still appeared
as a bright red star, not anything approaching the size of the moon.
Twenty six months later in October 2005 we again overtook Mars and we
were again relatively close to it. Another 26 months later in December
2007, the earth once again draws close to Mars and overtakes it in its
orbit. Mars will be closer at this time than it will be for another
nine years.
Here is the text of the e-mail I received about Mars. If Mars was
really as close as this e-mail claims, we earthlings would be in big
trouble. Please note: what is reported here is completely false.
Two moons on 27 August
27th Aug the Whole World is waiting for...
Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August.
It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will
cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of earth. Be
sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27, 12:30 am. It will look like the earth
has 2 moons. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.
Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again
Well - I suppose we can make Mars and the moon appear to be equal size
side by side on the computer. Again, just in case you have been
skimming this article, you will never see Mars and the moon appear this
large together.
Of note, because Mars and the earth travel in the same direction around
the sun, the earth gradually pulls ahead of Mars like a racer on the
inside track. As we pull away from Mars, it appears smaller and dimmer
each month. But because we are traveling in the same direction, earth
does not lose Mars behind the sun for almost 13 months. All other
planets disappear behind the sun yearly or sooner. Since Mars hangs
around in our sky for such a long time, growing dimmer each month, some
have likened Mars to a dinner guest that doesn't know when its time to
go home.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 04 January 2008 )
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