Mars is on its way to a street near you

[gideon1]

From an E---Mars


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

[Shirley]

I'm really sorry - but this is infact out of date - it was sort of true in 2003 I think the date was... I googled it yesterday as someone had sent me the details in an email..

But... as a result I did find a really good article and interactive thingie on the NASA site... here is the link...

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/night ... sky03.html

and the hoaxslayer article that led me there : http://www.hoax-slayer.com/mars-earth-close.html

[gideon1]

Thanks Shirlz, Seems my E buddy is as far behind as I. Do not remember anything about the phenomenon then. Was it publicized?? Must have not paid it any attention. wc

[Muddypause]

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Whenever it is/was, that bit doesn't seem quite right to me. I'm no astronomy expert, but Google shows that Mars is almost exactly twice the diameter of our moon, so in order for it to appear the same size as the moon, it would need to be twice the distance from Earth - about half a million miles, a little different from 34,649,589 miles. In interplanetary terms, I reckon that would be rather too close for comfort.

[Andy Hamilton]

I was almost believing in astrology there, more wars on the planet as Mars is nearer to us.