Mars Visible in August

faceman

I got an email forwarded from a colleague that details how Mars close will be to earth and at night it will be as visible and clear to the naked eye as the moon.

Just wanted to see if anyone can confirm this? Sounds spectacular if its true. the email contained this in slideshow format but here is some of the content:

wrote:

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 whenMars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth andwill be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9and 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 thebeginning 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 prettyconvenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history.

paulusdu

I think (if memory serves me correctly) that this is a bit of a hoax. It may have been true in 2003 (possibly exagerated) but not so for this year

Beeker

Sorry friend but not true. The e-mail was for an encounter back in 2003 or so and has been doing the rounds every year since. Some even claim that Mars will be as big as the Moon. Not true.

faceman

Thanks folks.

Plug

On this note anyway when will jupiter be back up at a reasonable hour not 4am in the morning:D

peterako

August...rising about 10.30pm by mid August.

I too am waiting eagerly to view Jupiter (for the first time and at a reasonable hour )

Try Stellarium for a better guide.

Peter

Plug

Ah yeah Jupiter is cool especially with 4 of its biggest moons around it!

Hauk

Yep, Jupiter is up in the morning and if your telescope is powerful enough you should see the great red spot.

dlofnep

Jupiter is still too low in the sky - it only gets high when it's bright. It peaks at about 5am at the moment - will have to wait until mid august to start of September for better viewing conditions.

Popoutman

Snopes.com debunking:
http://www.snopes.com/science/astronomy/brightmars.asp

Most of the email things are listed here, and it's a good resource to check things against.