Mars Spectacular!

[joya250]

Got this in my email this morning and wanted to share:

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
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.

Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL
EVER SEE THIS AGAIN

 

[WhiteRaven]

Ummm.....I'm glad I'm not the only one that fell for this....

Mars

WR

 

[joya250]

LOL

... and I just forwarded it on to many people via email too!

Well, I guess I'll see soon enough how 'valid' this is.

haha, thanks!

 

[Fluffmeister]

It was all perfectly valid - in 2003.

I'm afraid it's the problem with websites and e-mails. A current, topical website in 2003 wrote "Mars will be at its closest in August", and two years down the line Google searches still find it, and we assume the August must be *this* August.

Mars really was incredibly spectacular in August 2003.

 

[isthmus nekoi]

Oh yes, that was during the blackout in TO. I remember I found Mars by looking at the moon and remembering what sign Mars was in relative to the moon's.... It was the first time I made a real connection b/w those glyphs on my computer and actual stars in the sky

 

[Fluffmeister]

Oh yes, that was during the blackout in TO. I remember I found Mars by looking at the moon and remembering what sign Mars was in relative to the moon's.... It was the first time I made a real connection b/w those glyphs on my computer and actual stars in the sky

I know, it's wonderful isn't it! The sky is the canvas on which our art is painted - and yet far too many astrologers rarely look at the sky.

 

[Fulgour]

Universal Companions

I remember Mars in '03 very well, watching with my bride to be.
We somehow knew it was special for us... and are now nightly
star gazers (and mutual neck massagers) but it's great to know
this was also a bit of the fantastic happeneing for All the world.

I have three visual aids for tracking the "stars" that really help.
Push pins on a bulletin board with a Zodiac graph, a dry erase
board that gets updated with notes on the side and a diarama,
a globe of Earth with a rotating Moon on an arm positioned by
a golden ornament, proudly standing in for the Sun to the East.

And it does take a while to ride along on the plane of the ecliptic
with a true sense of where things will come from and then go to,
but we've developed little tricks and knacks to keep our bearings.