Two Moons on 27 August

[timmyg13]

I just got this in an email, i'll be awake to watch this.

*Two moons on 27 August*


*..........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.

 

[granat]

 

[da_cowman]

Don't hold your breathe...
Your e-mail might be a little outdated. Mars was actually closest to Earth in 2003. Even then, the only way to see it being the size of the moon, was to be looking through a Telescope with magnification of about 100x!

Considering that Mars is anywhere from 50 million km to over a 100 million km away from Mars, 34.65mi, or about 50km is a massive call (your e-mailer might have taken off the Million!). And if this was due to happen in just over 2 weeks, we'd already be seeing a much larger Mars in the night sky. Things in space don't just happen overnight and pop in to say hello.

Here is a direct quote from Wikipedia. While it's not the most trusted source, it's information is generally pretty good.

The point of Mars’ closest approach to the Earth is known as opposition. The length of time between successive oppositions, or the Synodic period, is 780 days. Because of the eccentricities of the orbits, the times of opposition and minimum distance can differ by up to 8.5 days. The minimum distance varies between about 55 and 100 million km due to the planets' elliptical orbits.[5] The next Mars opposition will occur on December 24, 2007.

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.[73] The orbital changes of Earth and Mars are making the approaches nearer: the 2003 record will be bettered 22 times by the year 4000.

To give you more of an idea the Moon is 380,000km away from us at a size of 3,500km in diameter. Mars is on average 75,000,000km away, at a size of 6,800km!!

So, your more then welcome to wait up on the 27th. But I'll be amazed if you can even see Mars, I don't think it comes back into our night sky until a bit later in the year.

Later Da Cowman!

 

[double_d]

yeah im pretty sure i got this in an email a couple of years ago
lol

daniel d

 

[mongoliantreesloth]

Yet another of those emils that circulate every once in a while. Never mind...
http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp

 

[mickyd213]

34.65mi, or about 50km is a massive call !

Timmy did actually say 34.65M miles.

 

[auenf]

http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/2007-08-28/

see the eclipse instead

 

[timmyg13]

I only got the information in an email, but until reading previous posts i realise that it is not actaully going to happen.