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thats pretty sweet.
Since this won't happen again for between 5,000 and 60,000 years...might be worth a look now. I'm sure some of you already know and are watching for this phenomenon, but if you aren't - here's your chance.
The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!
This month the 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
thats pretty sweet.
well i fell for it, that sucks.
damn, thats weird. i vaguely remember something like this in 03
glad you set straight, i almost reserved a camp site for thursday night
Snopes.com is your friend.
Anyone here who believed that Mars would be as big as the full moon in our sky needs to go through grade school again.
LOL manny is god has owned this pego i said
Damn, Mars need to give Earth some space already. That psycho is suffocating us.
It said that Mars at 75x magnification would look as big as the full moon.
What are you talking about? I've never even been to Mars *in arnold accent*
With these glasses and the right shoes, Mars is huge.
does grade school teach you that? maybe you're thinking of the space camp you went to one summer back then.
anyways, I wouldnt believe until I saw it
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