Yer Boy Dusty Droppin' That Science...
Dust sent me this email today... thought it was pretty interesting. Not gonna totally geek out and buy a telescope tomorrow, or anything, but it would be neat to see.Subject: THE RED PLANET
The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! 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 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 10 pm and reach its azimuth at about 3 am. 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 am. 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. Share this with your children, grandchildren and friends. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN
posted by Seamus McPoop @ 9:29:00 PM
8 Comments:
Awww how cute! Dusty and Shaneazy two peas in a pod? She called me up so excited about this and then sent me an email about it. Awww! How is ole Dusty Dust anyway? Never get to talk to him anymore.
I am sorry but this is not true it is a hoax!!!The piece quoted above is another example of an item that was once true but is now being circulated again, long after the events it describes have come to pass. This article was relevant back in 2003, but it is not applicable now, two years later.
Mars did make an extraordinarily close approach to Earth which culminated on 27 August 2003, when the red planet came within 35 million miles (or 56 million kilometers) of Earth, its nearest approach to us in almost 60,000 years. At that time, Mars appeared approximately 6 times larger and 85 times brighter in the sky than it does ordinarily. (The message quoted above was often reproduced with an unfortunate line break in the middle of the second sentence of the second paragraph, leaving some readers with the mistaken impression that Mars would "look as large as the full moon to the naked eye" and not realizing that the statement only applied to those using viewing Mars through a scope with 75-power magnification.)
Although Mars' proximity to Earth in August 2003 (referred to as a perihelic opposition) was a rare occurrence, the red planet comes almost as near to us every 15 to 17 years. To the unaided observer, Mars' appearance in August 2003 wasn't significantly larger or brighter than it is during those much more common intervals of closeness.
Mars will have another close encounter with Earth in in 2005, but that occurrence will take place in October (not August), and the red planet will appear about 20% smaller than it did during similar circumstances in 2003.
The Mars phenomenon of 2003 was featured in a couple of articles on the web site Space.com which are still well worth the reading: Mars to Get Closer than Ever in Recorded History in 2003 and Orbital Oddities: Why Mars will be So Close to Earth in August. Interested observers also joined Mars Watch 2003 through the MarsToday.com web site.
Sorry guys! I was really looking forward to it too.
I am sorry but this is not true it is a hoax!!!The piece quoted above is another example of an item that was once true but is now being circulated again, long after the events it describes have come to pass. This article was relevant back in 2003, but it is not applicable now, two years later.
Mars did make an extraordinarily close approach to Earth which culminated on 27 August 2003, when the red planet came within 35 million miles (or 56 million kilometers) of Earth, its nearest approach to us in almost 60,000 years. At that time, Mars appeared approximately 6 times larger and 85 times brighter in the sky than it does ordinarily. (The message quoted above was often reproduced with an unfortunate line break in the middle of the second sentence of the second paragraph, leaving some readers with the mistaken impression that Mars would "look as large as the full moon to the naked eye" and not realizing that the statement only applied to those using viewing Mars through a scope with 75-power magnification.)
Although Mars' proximity to Earth in August 2003 (referred to as a perihelic opposition) was a rare occurrence, the red planet comes almost as near to us every 15 to 17 years. To the unaided observer, Mars' appearance in August 2003 wasn't significantly larger or brighter than it is during those much more common intervals of closeness.
Mars will have another close encounter with Earth in in 2005, but that occurrence will take place in October (not August), and the red planet will appear about 20% smaller than it did during similar circumstances in 2003.
The Mars phenomenon of 2003 was featured in a couple of articles on the web site Space.com which are still well worth the reading: Mars to Get Closer than Ever in Recorded History in 2003 and Orbital Oddities: Why Mars will be So Close to Earth in August. Interested observers also joined Mars Watch 2003 through the MarsToday.com web site.
Sorry guys! I was really looking forward to it too.
alright, alright, alright Copernicus. Point made. But, to quote the NASA site, "to casual observers, Mars will seem about as bright and beautiful in 2005 as it was in 2003." Don't know of anyone who was planning on making life altering decisions based upon the location of the moon in context to Mars or vice versa, sorry that the message was off by a month. Hopefully we can all get our travel arrangements to the W.M Keck telescope (aperture 10 m) on Mauna Kea changed and we can geek out on the proper date.
or, a little more on the subject from Brett Christensen as posted at hoax-slayer...
Someone has recently resurrected and sent off this message and it is once again being passed from inbox to inbox. Although the year is not specifically mentioned in the message, recipients may naturally assume that it is referring to the current year, 2005. The events outlined in the message were more or less true back in 2003 although they were a little hyped even then. According to NASA, on August 27, 2003, Earth and Mars were the closest they have been for around 60,000 years. Mars was indeed a spectacular site in the night sky during several months of 2003.
However, this fact is not quite as earth shattering as you might think. A 2003 NASA article on the subject explains that:
Much has been made of the fact that the August 27th encounter with Mars is the closest in some 60,000 years. Neanderthals were the last to observe Mars so favorably placed. This is true. It's also a bit of hype. Mars and Earth have been almost this close many times in recent history.
Mars will in fact pass close to Earth once again in 2005, although it will be at its closest on October 31st rather than August 27th. However, the red planet will not pass quite as close as it did in 2003. In 2003, Mars came within approximately 34 million miles of Earth. In late 2005 it will pass at about 43 million miles.
In reality, this distance gap will probably not make a great deal of difference to casual observers on the ground. Mars will still be a spectacular and compelling site in the night sky in late 2005 in spite of the fact that it will not be quite as close to Earth as it was in 2003. What's more, these close encounters are not such uncommon events.
Thus the claim that "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!" is a little misleading. It is true that the next time Mars will be as close to earth as it was in 2003 will be on August 28, 2287. In the mean time however, there will be plenty of other close approaches, so our children and our children's children are not likely to miss out altogether.
Perhaps by 2287 some of our descendents will be observing the close encounter from the Martian perspective.
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alright... enough already. was the date inaccurate? you bet. will it still be worth stepping outside in Ocotber to take a look at, if for no other reason than just to say you did? i think. was Tentis' comment plagerized nearly word for word from snopes.com? INDEED.
My mistake I forgot to give props to www.snopes.com. Dr.Nye the science guy I am not.
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