MARS

[emshighway]

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

[cancidas]

definately going to try to catch this. thanks!

[PhilDernerJr]

"At 75-power magnification....to the naked eye".

Which one is it? I don't know how to magnify my naked eyes by 75. If I'm using a device to help, then it's not a naked eye anymore, huh?

Either way, I hope it's a clear night, as I would be up for seeing this.

[flyboy 28]

I hate to burst your celestial bubble, but this is a hoax.

http://blogs.earthsky.org/larrysessions ... -the-moon/ (http://blogs.earthsky.org/larrysessions/space/081934/mars-as-big-as-the-moon/)


Whoa! Mars as big as the full moon! You’ve probably heard that before, huh? I’m sure many of you have already seen the email that says in August 2007, Mars will be as big and bright as the full moon. In fact, some versions of this email claim that Mars and Earth’s moon will appear as a “double moon” in Earth’s sky in late August 2007. True?

No way. This hoax email has been circulating every summer since 2003. This email is wrong, filled with false information and should not be passed on. There’s much more info here: Mars Hoax as well as elsewhere on the web. But let me say here that there will not be a “double moon” - consisting of our own full moon and Mars - visible in Earth’s sky in late August 2007.

Undoubtedly you have seen many other such emails and/or claims online, in newspapers and such. Some are so incredibly stupid or naive that any intelligent adult will dismiss them, but some have a grain of truth that can be enough to fool even the rocket scientists among us. So how can you know what is real?

It isn’t always easy. There is very little in the Universe that is absolutely impossible. There is a small possibility that a three-headed, purple and chartreuse alien from a planet orbiting a star in the Andromeda galaxy could suddenly materialize in front of you through quantum mechanical processes, assuming of course that such an alien as described does in fact exist. I must emphasize that it is a very, VERY, VERY small possibility, but it can’t be dismissed entirely (at least not if our current understanding of quantum probabilities is correct). My point is that unexpected, odd, even bizarre and highly unlikely events can sometimes be true. So back to the question, how can we know what is likely true and what should we not waste time with?

Although there were no viral emails running amuck 30 years ago, there were plenty of stories of aliens, astral influences, monsters and so on. Sometime in the late 1970s I wrote an article called “The Power of Positive Skepticism,” which was my attempt to provide some tools to help separate fact from fiction.

[emshighway]

Opps, Sorry.

I will be biusy beating the person who sent it to me.