Are stargazers about to be treated to a rare phenomenon in which Mars will be as visible in the night sky as the Moon, appearing every bit as large as Earth’s natural satellite even without help from powerful telescopes?
The answer is: no, unfortunately not, according to astronomers.
The reports, which have been going viral in recent weeks, are part of what Space.com refers to as the “Mars Hoax”, which finds its origins in an email sent out by an unidentified source all the way back in 2003. Based on a misinterpretation of that message, some people have come to think that the Red Planet will be closer to Earth than ever before on Thursday (August 27).
According to the website, the email appears to have been sent in an effort to pass along some interesting (and accurate) information about a close encounter with Mars on August 27, 2003, in which the planet would come to “within 34,649,589 miles (55,763,108 kilometers)” of Earth and would be the one of the brightest objects in the night sky.
“It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide,” the email reportedly said. “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.” Somewhere along the line, however, the date and the need to use telescopes to see the phenomenon were lost and an urban legend was born.
The truth behind the rumors
As Snopes pointed out, the information is necessarily false or a hoax, it’s simply outdated. Back in August 2003, Mars did actually appear to be six times larger and 85 times brighter in the night sky than normal, the website said. It was the planet’s closest approach in nearly 60,000 years but only appeared larger to those using telescopes, not to the unaided observer.
Snopes added that the Red Planet did have a second close encounter with Earth, in October 2005, but that it appeared 20 percent smaller than it had two years earlier. Mars also made a somewhat close approach to Earth in December 2007, as it was about 55 million miles from Earth. In 2018, it will be about as close as it was in 2003, and will appear closer in the year 2287.
Finally, Space.com pointed out that even though Mars was brighter than usual, it was still not the second-brightest object in the night sky, behind only the moon. In fact, Venus still appeared to be brighter, and even at its brightest, Mars was a full magnitude fainter than Venus, they noted.
Currently, Mars is nearly seven times farther away than it was back in 2003, nearly 240 million miles (385 million kilometers) from the Earth, the website said. Furthermore, at magnitude +1.7, the Red Planet is about 70 times fainter compared to 2003, meaning that binoculars or telescopes are needed to even find it in the sky.
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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