Just saw this in my inbox: "Never again in your lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular!
"This month and next month the Earth is catching up with Mars, 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.
"The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles 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, Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.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 12:30 a.m. That’s pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has seen in recorded history.
“So mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grows progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share with your children and grandchildren. No one alive today will ever see this again.”
Is this another Internet hoax? And are those times GMT?
For real. It will be 34.65 million miles (55.76 million kilometers) away, the closest point since Neanderthal days in 57,617 B.C.
No need to wait until Aug. 27. It has been easily spotted for many weeks now. Look up towards the southern sky. Mars is the brightest object up there, apart from the moon. You can’t miss it. But don’t expect to see a big red planet. It is still really small and only has a slightly reddish tint that is visible to the naked eye.
Mars is often very visible in the sky. It looks like a bright point with a reddish tinge. The light reflected from planets tends to flicker less (I’m told). People these days don’t notice it cos they don’t give a toss about looking up and there are too many lights. I’ve often told people look there’s Mars and people don’t care …boo hoo.
To ancient people it would have been like a neon sign!!!
These last few nights have been very clear, allowing great viewing of Mars and other stars. Mars rises in the southeast around 9 pm or so. By 11 pm on it should be high enough to be visible even if you are looking up from urban areas. It really is quite bright already and there are still over two weeks before it hits the closest point to earth.
Isn’t Mars the Roman god of War? Would astrologers interpret Mar’s closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years as a dire omen of terrible war?
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tmwc wrote:
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For real. It will be 34.65 million miles (55.76 million kilometers) away, the closest point since Neanderthal days in 57,617 B.C.
Which is why there are currently 3 or 4 probes hurtling to Mars. Doesn’t anyone except me read the news?
No one except you? It seems that the previous posters also keep up with the science and astronomy news pretty well.
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Apologies to the person I quoted above. You obviously know as much as, probably more than, I do. I guess I was referring to the person starting the thread. On reflection the thread was started by someone who was apparently seeking information (about the veracity of the claim) rather than presenting it as gospel because it was in their inbox.
I applaud anyone seeking information rather than simply believing everything that lands in their inbox, which means apologies are due - and duly tendered - there too. God I hate doing this. But in my defence I must say that news of the various missions is far more interesting than mere celestial mechanics.
I like star gazing and astronomy because it really brings home the understanding that we are clinging to life on a fragile little planet floating around somewhere in all the incomprehensible vastness of space. It really puts me in my place, let me tell you because that gives a new perspective to shrink down the troubles and problems I feel that I’m facing down here on planet earth.
So don’t miss this opportunity to see (relatively) up close a distant visitor from our solar system. Mars is really close now and is so much larger than I’ve ever seen it before. It is very easy to spot in the night sky. Look for it these next few nights. And imagine what it must be like to stand on Mars and look out into the inky blackness and see the tiny blue dot that is Earth.
[quote=“Kenny McCormick”]where are the wacky astrologers? Will the ascendant Mars turn me into a raging, sexual tyrannosaurian predator foreigner?[/quote]If it did, how would we tell the difference ?
Saw it the other night from the dikes in Mucha. Had a strange orange tint to it. Really bright though. Not at all the Mars I remember from my childhood days on the porch with the Sears telescope. Going to go out and look at it again tonight. Hope it’s still there.
muchman wrote: “Going to go out and look at it again tonight. Hope it’s still there.”
it will still be there for another 678 billion trillion years. break a leg!
To wit:
At 5:51 a.m. ET on Aug. 27, Mars will be nearer to Earth than it has been in 59,619 years. A similar opportunity won’t occur again until the year 2287 when Taiwan will become a member of the UN.
