The Red Planet is about to be Spectacular

[FZ5owner]

Hey Bros,

Got something interesting to share with u.............

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.

​

 

[cLarbRyan]

cool! who's going to take pictures from day 1 to end?

 

[newbiegrapher]

means for the whole month, we may see something in the sky or only on Aug27 ? :bigeyes:

 

[chromodynamics]

Sorry to disappoint, but it's actually not going to be the case. Check out this URL:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07jul_marshoax.htm

 

[tincup]

It's a hoax that Mars will be seen as large as the moon. :nono:

Check this out:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07jul_marshoax.htm?list21208

 

[eikin]

not again ... :what:

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=138811&highlight=Mars

 

[FZ5owner]

It's a hoax that Mars will be seen as large as the moon. :nono:

Check this out:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07jul_marshoax.htm?list21208

Thanks so much
well........there's so much hoax this days, u might not know which is true or flase
got the mail this morning, just wanna share....................:dunno:

as long is not virus.........still can keep an eye on the sky
who knows, the scientist might be wrong

wat happen in space, the scientific stuff, even scientist cannot comes out with a reason
if not, we be taking a plane to mars for photo shoot...........:bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[airconvent]

please..this crap has been circulating for quite some time now..actually since the last REAL close encounter by mars. in actual fact , closest means a few million km closer...perhaps slightly brighter and that's all. the significance was that in the last Mars Watch, Mars was closest to us than it will ever be for another 60,000 years but practically, it will still be very bright on closest point of approach. if you look due east around 3 am, you will see a bright reddish dot. that's mars.
while you are at it, why waste a good view? look due west in tge evening for a very bright "star". that's Venus. above venus about 2-3 fist lengths away is another bright "star". that's Jupiter....enjoy

for more info, do join in the discussion here where singapore astronomers gather.

www.singastro.org
(you can see my equipment list and some astrophoto efforts there as well)

for more reading, also check this site :

www.space.com
(lots of news on astro and space topics)

you can see some of the photos I took during the last Mars watch here (ok...very bad but my camera was not designed for astrophotgraphy and of course, my scope was small!)

www.pbase.com/airconvent
(why so little pics? cos the free account expired and I can't upload anymore pics!)

cheers