Viewer's Guide: Mars to be Spectacular in Fall, 2005

[Dover]

Viewer's Guide: Mars to be Spectacular in Fall, 2005

By Joe Rao
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist
posted: 19 August 2005
12:39 am ET


Mars is coming back. The Red Planet, the only one whose surface we can see in any detail from the Earth, has begun the best apparition it will give us until the summer of 2018.

Planet watchers have already begun readying their telescopes.

If this sounds familiar, you might recall a similar setup two years ago. This current apparition of Mars will not be as spectacular as the one in August 2003 when the planet came closer to Earth than it had in nearly 60,000-years.

Mars is currently in the constellation of Aries, the Ram and doesn't rise until around 10:45 p.m. local daylight time. There is certainly no mistaking it once it comes up over the east-southeast horizon. Presently shining at magnitude –0.8, it now ranks fifth among the brightest objects in the night sky, surpassed only by the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Sirius (the brightest star in the sky).

And as it continues to approach Earth, Mars will only be getting brighter in the coming weeks: it will surpass Sirius on Sept. 21 and on Oct. 4 it will rival Jupiter and as a consequence (until Nov. 26), hold forth as the second-brightest planet...>

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/050819_mars_guide.html

[greyl]

1. DUPE

emad posted on the 15th

slow down

[greyl]

2. before edited, this was the Tsunami/Atlantis story nt

[benburch]

3. Ummm.... Not true.

Yes Mars gets relatively close to earth every couple of years.

A few years back it had a very close approach, which does not happen more than every 60,000 years, but even so it was so far away that it was just a bright red star in the sky and not spectacular in any sense.

But this story that has been circulating is a retread of the more-or-less correct story that circulated several years ago!

Debunked here; http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp

[greyl]

4. This isn't the hoax.

The hoax is an exaggeration of this true story.

edit:

There's a rumor about Mars going around the internet. Here are some snippets from a widely-circulated email message:

- "The Red Planet is about to be spectacular."
- "Earth is catching up with Mars the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history."
- "On August 27th … Mars will look as large as the full moon."
And finally,
- "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN."
Only the first sentence is true. The Red Planet is about to be spectacular. The rest is a hoax.

Here are the facts: Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter this year on October 30th at 0319 Universal Time. Distance: 69 million kilometers. To the unaided eye, Mars will look like a bright red star, a pinprick of light, certainly not as wide as the full Moon.

Disappointed? Don't be. If Mars did come close enough to rival the Moon, its gravity would alter Earth's orbit and raise terrible tides.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07jul_marshoax.htm

/edit