About this Mars hoax I am hearing..

[Tbfgraphx14]

Apparently this hoax has been going around that mars will appear as large as the moon does on Aguest 27th. Has anyone heard of it? I am just tired of all of these people on Yahoo Answers asking if it real or not. I thought they would know. :-k This originally happend in 2003, but even then it was not that big in the night sky. Looks like the creator of this letter is probably happy =;

 

 

 

Hoax Letter \/

 

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.

 

 

 

 

I just thought it was odd how I never heard of this letter before but there are lots of people asking about it :-k Have you gotten it?

[WutangFlu]

Bullpoop

[scn64]

I didn't receive the letter but I heard about if from my parents. If Mars was ever close enough to Earth that it looked as big as the moon, there would be definite cause for concern.

[meol]

Mars might become the brightest "star" on the sky, perhaps even brighter than Venus (although I doubt it), but it'd never be as bright or large as the moon. If it were, we'd be really nearing complete obliteration. :uhh:

[Echofish]

Maybe this guy just saw the moon glow red and thought it was Mars. Then he decided to make a story about it, weird.

[Mercifull]

Meh this hoax comes around like EVERY year.

 

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/news/index.html

[Nom]

I remember hearing about this last year. Apparently people do it every year to see who will fall for it. But yeah, if Mars ever got that close, we'd be dead.

[ThurinEthir]

The distance something has in relationship with the Earth determines how large it appears in the sky. If the moon and Mars appear the same size, then they're the same distance from the Earth. Meaning Mars has just gotten a whole lot closer.

 

And for the record...If any of you ever see something reddish the size of the moon in the sky, it's probably a lunar eclipse. If not...Call NASA?

[cryztalwing]

I do know that

 

 

 

At 0800 UT (3:00 AM US Eastern Seaboard) on August 27th the Planet Mars will rise in the Eastern sky alongside Aldebaran the giant red star located in the constellation Taurus and resembling ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹Ãâtwo eerie, unblinking eyesÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢.

 

 

 

During the early morning hours of August 28th one of the longest lunar eclipses in recorded history will occur with our Moon becoming completely immersed for nearly 90 minutes, and which will be visible to the entire World.

[Infernosage4]

The distance something has in relationship with the Earth determines how large it appears in the sky. If the moon and Mars appear the same size, then they're the same distance from the Earth. Meaning Mars has just gotten a whole lot closer.

 

And for the record...If any of you ever see something reddish the size of the moon in the sky, it's probably a lunar eclipse. If not...Call NASA?

 

 

 

Mars is tons times larger than the moon. So it wouldn't have to be as close as the moon to appear the same size.

[Mercifull]

Moon: 2,413,402 km

 

Mars: 1,429,033,627 km

 

 

 

Thats over 592 moons inside a mars. lol

[meol]

It's not that awfully larger... See this 2 images: Mars-Moon comparison 1 and Comparison 2

 

If you do some calculations, you'd get that the Earth-Mars distance would only have to be a bit less than twice the earth-Moon distance in order for Mars to look as big as the Moon.

[Kill_Thomas9]

They must have been an idiot to think mars would come within 34 miles of earth. I think we might have a few problems if that happened. Especially if mars got pulled into our gravity and wiped out all life.

[Barihawk]

They must have been an idiot to think mars would come within 34 miles of earth. I think we might have a few problems if that happened. Especially if mars got pulled into our gravity and wiped out all life.

 

 

 

The quote was 34.64 Million.

[ThurinEthir]

The distance something has in relationship with the Earth determines how large it appears in the sky. If the moon and Mars appear the same size, then they're the same distance from the Earth. Meaning Mars has just gotten a whole lot closer.

 

And for the record...If any of you ever see something reddish the size of the moon in the sky, it's probably a lunar eclipse. If not...Call NASA?

 

 

 

Mars is tons times larger than the moon. So it wouldn't have to be as close as the moon to appear the same size.

 

Ah, stupid me. #-o

 

But still...If I remember correctly...Mars is...Twice (?) the size of the moon? I'm pretty sure the distance between the Earth and the moon is over twice the distance of the distance between the Earth and Mars.

 

 

 

I see that Meol put something about it...But I'm pretty sure that the moon is still over twice as close.

 

 

 

Also...I found this on Wiki:

 

"On August 27, 2003, at 9:51:13 UT, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years: 55,758,006 km (approximately 35 million miles). This occurred when Mars was one day from opposition and about three days from its perihelion, making Mars particularly easy to see from Earth. The last time it came so close is estimated to have been on September 12, 57,617 BC., the next time being in 2287. However, this record approach was only very slightly closer than other recent close approaches. For instance, the minimum distance on August 22, 1924 was 0.37284 AU, compared to 0.37271 AU on August 27, 2003, and the minimum distance on August 24, 2208 will be 0.37278 AU.[74] The orbital changes of Earth and Mars are making the approaches nearer: the 2003 record will be bettered 22 times by the year 4000."

 

I'm guessing that this hoax is an annual thing that started in 2003. The 2003 was a real one, every single year afterwards, people try to fool people into thinking there's another one. There isn't.

[Agunimon979]

EVERYONE LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOWZ NOW!! :D. Really, do it. Tell us if Mars is actually out there or somethin. lol.

[meol]

...I see that Meol put something about it...But I'm pretty sure that the moon is still over twice as close.

 

Just as a small clarification, I meant Mars would have to be twice as close to the Earth as the Moon in order to look as big as it. Just hypothetically speaking, of course.

 

 

 

Also...I found this on Wiki:

 

"On August 27, 2003, at 9:51:13 UT, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years: 55,758,006 km (approximately 35 million miles). This occurred when Mars was one day from opposition and about three days from its perihelion, making Mars particularly easy to see from Earth. The last time it came so close is estimated to have been on September 12, 57,617 BC., the next time being in 2287. However, this record approach was only very slightly closer than other recent close approaches. For instance, the minimum distance on August 22, 1924 was 0.37284 AU, compared to 0.37271 AU on August 27, 2003, and the minimum distance on August 24, 2208 will be 0.37278 AU.[74] The orbital changes of Earth and Mars are making the approaches nearer: the 2003 record will be bettered 22 times by the year 4000."

 

I'm guessing that this hoax is an annual thing that started in 2003. The 2003 was a real one, every single year afterwards, people try to fool people into thinking there's another one. There isn't.

 

 

 

Averagely, the moon occupies (has an angular size of) around 31'. even when Mars was 55,758,006 km for the Earth, it didn't appear larger than 13''. That's almost nothing, Mars was still thousands of times smaller than the Moon to us.

 

 

 

(If anyone wanted to see the Maths I used, feel free to PM me; I still could make mistakes, of course)

[Agunimon979]

IT'S TWELVE THIRTY! WHERE THE HELL IS IT?

[Antony]

There's a lunar eclipse tomorrow. The moon will turn red. I am guessing that is the origin of the hoax this time around, although they messed up the date if they wanted the hoax to be the eclipse. :?

[look_its_rob]

Does anyone know what time the lunar eclipse is supposed to happen tomorrow?

 

 

 

i know it is early, but how early?

[TotalTalker]

How can someone mistake the Moon for Mars if there is two?

[king_kenny69]

Watch this space August 28th.

[Lemeja]

Sorta off-topic but I did notice that the moon was a lot brighter than usual at about 11:00 last night.

[frakir_staer]

Does anyone know what time the lunar eclipse is supposed to happen tomorrow?

 

 

 

i know it is early, but how early?

 

 

 

Around 4:30 am EST. Thats just the beginning, the real action won't happen until approximately 4:50.

[Rainy_Day]

If Mars looked that close, it'd be rather questionable how to got so close. :-k

 

 

 

A lunar eclipse is more believable. :P