Looking for the Red Planet

MARS SPECTACULAR!

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


Vinnie....

Vinnie, it is nice of you to try to pass this on, but..*check* first,
before relaying emailed information. That email *was* correct... but
it was in 2003.

FWIW, Mars is fairly close to us again, but not as close as in 2003,
next October (31st).

Please forward this back to whoever sent you the email, and try to
teach them as well...!

Some of this is bullhockey, the rest two years out of date..

Mars will not reach opposition this year until October; at the time it
will be some 13 million miles farther from Earth than it was in its last
opposition in 2003.

While it is true that no human being has yet seen the Mars opposition of
2005, the same can be said of 'tomorrow'.

More at http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp

Vinnie wrote:
MARS SPECTACULAR!

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


Vinnie....

"Chrlz" wrote in message
oups.com...
Vinnie, it is nice of you to try to pass this on, but..*check* first,
before relaying emailed information. That email *was* correct... but
it was in 2003.


I don't remember this part in 2003:

"Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye."

Greg

GT said:
I don't remember this part in 2003:
Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye

Hmm. Serves me right for skimming...!
Ok, I revise my comments. SOME of that email was correct... (O:

You would need a pretty awesome telescope in front of that 'naked' eye
to get it *that* big..

"Chrlz" wrote in message
ups.com...
GT said:
I don't remember this part in 2003:
Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye

Hmm. Serves me right for skimming...!
Ok, I revise my comments. SOME of that email was correct... (O:

You would need a pretty awesome telescope in front of that 'naked' eye
to get it *that* big..

Plenty of people here with them that big and bigger. ;-)

"Vinnie" wrote in message
.. .
MARS SPECTACULAR!


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.

Try alt.urban.legend! This statement is pure Bullsh*t, Mars will appear as
bright as the full moon, not a big as it. It would have to come much closer
to appear as large as. I haven't had enough coffee yet to tackle the math to
show how close it would need to be to appear as large...

Darrell wrote:
"Vinnie" wrote in message
.. .
MARS SPECTACULAR!


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.

Try alt.urban.legend! This statement is pure Bullsh*t, Mars will
appear as bright as the full moon, not a big as it. It would have to
come much closer to appear as large as. I haven't had enough coffee
yet to tackle the math to show how close it would need to be to
appear as large...

Due to a couple of badly placed line breaks everyone seems
to be reading it wrong.

Quote:
"At a modest 75-power
magnification

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked
eye. "

Not that I care whether it is true or not since it happened 2 years ago.

-Mike

"Darrell" wrote in message
...

"Vinnie" wrote in message
.. .
MARS SPECTACULAR!


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.

Try alt.urban.legend! This statement is pure Bullsh*t, Mars will appear as
bright as the full moon, not a big as it. It would have to come much
closer to appear as large as. I haven't had enough coffee yet to tackle
the math to show how close it would need to be to appear as large...



--------- Snip ---------
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.
------------------------

It might be out of date... but it's poorly formatted!

Time for some education.
Mars can NEVER look as large or be as bright
as the full moon, EVER!
The largest Mars ever appears is about 26 arc seconds
across, which is 1/69th the size of the full Moon.
In addition, although it's surface brightness per
area can be as bright, because of it's diminutive size,
it will never appear as bright.
In 2003, Mars was larger (by a couple arc seconds)
than it will be during this opposition, but it was
lower in the sky for Northern observers owing to it's
position on the ecliptic (the line the planets follow).
This year, it's higher up and easier to see well in a Telescope.
So, in a telescope at 69 power, it will appear as large
as the full Moon but most who see it will not see it as such
due to physiological factors that effect seeing.
Mars does not reach opposition (largest size) until Nov 6.
If you want to image Mars as a disc, you need a telescope.
Ideal powers for observation will be 100x-250x or the equivalent
of a telephoto lens of between 5000mm and 12500mm focal length
on 35mm film. The best images of planets current come from
Philips Tuocam Pro webcams ($100/ea) attached to telescopes
with main optics between 8 and 12" in diameter. Hundreds to
thousands of webcam images are then stacked and processed to
yield images with high detail.