Mars makes a once in a lifetime approach on 27 August
Wed, Aug 26, 2009
Post filled in: Observations, Space
Planet Mars will be the brightest we’ll (probably) ever have a chance to see it, and it will be as large as the moon, even for the naked eye ! I can’t even imagine what it will be like, but I bet the Red Planet will be absolutely spectacular, and it’s something you definitely don’t want to miss.
Just so you can make an idea, the next time Mars will be almost this close will be in 2287, and scientists believe there won’t be a better opportunity to see it for 5000 years, but they can’t really be sure, it could be 60.000 as well.
So here’s what you do: at 12 am, no matter where you’re from, you should be looking towards the sky (it’s even better if you are somewhere free of city pollution), and from 12 to 12:30 you will see what, as far as we know, no human has seen for many many years: Mars rising.
So really, it should be a great sight. We’ll be sure to update and post some pics as soon as they appear, and post our own ones too. Have a great night!
EPIC FAIL! Yeah, we got fooled. Andrei was in a hurry to leave for his well earned vacation (he’s still offline, with no phone signal in the Carpathian mountains), but then he remembered reading about this whole ‘once in a lifetime’ Mars experience somewhere, so he decided to post it with no research whilst still packing. Sorry for any inconvenience or disappointment this post might have caused.
Here’s a bit of history on the Mars e-mail hoax…
Signed,
-Tibi
another ZME Science writer guy type
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Andrei is no scientist, but from an early age, he has been fascinated by science; that's why he went to college, and signed up for Geophysics. Feeling that there's a huge gap between science and average people, he rallied TP, started ZME Science, and gave it a green twist too.
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August 27th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Use a simulator like stellarium to see where you can watch a rising mars, you need to be in a field where you can see eastwards to a horizon.
Mars is about 1.6 times further away from us than the sun, and because it is a bazillion times smaller than the sun, it will never appear “as big as the moon”. The moon is almost half a degree accross, Mars is only six arcseconds acrross. (one degree is 3600 arcseconds..).
Please be checking facts, and just like my previous comment, please refer to your source.
August 27th, 2009 at 5:11 am
august 2003 (the day that was true) mars was a lot closer than it will be the next shortest-distance moment, about 0.66AU.
In 2003 Mars was about 0.42AU away, which is relatively close, and you needed “only” a 75times magnification to have it look half a degree big.
August 27th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I’m very surprised you fell for this hoax that I’ve seen a few times before: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_2006_mars_encounter.htm
August 27th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Sorry about all this, folks
August 28th, 2009 at 3:29 am
Friends, I’m writing from
somewhere between earth and the
planet mars, which approached
so close, I got sucked up into
its gravitation along with my
lap-top. Please, trying to hold my
breath here in the void, and cloathes
slightly singed due to the Van Allen belts
and moving a little too swiftly through
the atmosphere. Wish I had
kept my espresso cup more tightly
hooked with my little finger . . .
To all my friends who I was supposed to
have croisants tomorrow at
Seattle’s best coffee shop . . .
. . . wait . . . am passing the
moon right now . . . will try to
report . . . wait . . . jeez! If that
is mars, shouldn’t I be able to see it’s moons
. . . wait . . . working . . . trying to
google azimuth . . .
paralax. . . sh*t . . .
. . this would never have happened
if I’d had my old Zeos . . . with the
the quarter inch thick key-board coard
. . . gettin’ cold. Gotta go.
Remember, the . . . zzzzzphs
August 28th, 2009 at 3:46 am
Well Andrei, have a very nice holiday and don’t forget to look up to mars once in a while
September 8th, 2009 at 5:00 am
Hey guys!
I just came back from my vacation and I have to say I’m sorry a million times, I read this somewhere just a few minutes before leaving home, and … well, I screwed up. Won’t happen again (I hope so haha).