Mars the size of the moon to the naked eye
 

Mars - 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

I think I heard that Neptune is making an appearance like that this month too . . . . or maybe she meant to say Mars.

I will take a look, and see if we can grab some photos. It is nice and dark here at night.

should be crazy, get your best cameras out....

yoooooooo thats HOT. hopefully we can get some clearer skies in time to see it. between the haze and the smog our night skies can sometimes be blurred

:pimp time

That's going to be so cool..

This is amazing i've always been an astronomy buff can't wait to take pics

I will be in Lake Tahoe up in the mountains then... should be sick.

It's halfway through August, have anyone witnessed this yet?

my climate cloudy i can't able to see moon also now a days

COVER STORY

http://www.wpcmath.com/films/deepimpact/deepimpact2.jpg

When I was a kid I had several dreams where there were 2 moons in the sky... maybe I was just seeing 2005 :upsidedow

Thanks for sharing! cool

maybe the martians are about to attack :P

FUCK....I was really excited about this until I saw this:

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publ...mars_haox.html

oh shit... lol, ive been punk'd

crazy
i'll take some pics

wow. thanks for that info. I guess I'll be watching the sky to take some pics.

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

that is too funny...

I remember two years ago all the people with telescopes outside when it was the closest, you could still see the red planet on a clear night. its pretty cool

damn! :disgust

I like looking at uranus.

Bummer... the internets can be so cruel :1orglaugh

The idiots who fell for this made my day.

You're an idiot. Mars was the closest it has been to Earth in 60,000+ years 2 years ago and it wasn't anywher near the size of the moon. In fact Mars is only twice the size of the moon so for it to appear the same size as the moon in the sky it would have to be only 500,000 miles away from earth. And if that happened the earth would be fucked.

funny replies in this thread.. haha.. ic an't believe many have been fooled.

Nevermind. Would have been amazing, though.

haha, lets be realistic, from invisible to as long as the moon in a few weeks? yeah right.

lol :1orglaugh

shut your mouth you little snatch-fart.

who in the hell besides your bi-focal wearing ass would even know such a thing? lol, nerd.

Good thing I still have my telescope here.

That is going to be cool, will get the camera ready :thumbsup

Anyone that read that link above to the hoax article

oh wow, that is fucking cool for sure

Great, then perhaps you can take some pictures of the rest of this thread so you can read it sometime :thumbsup

lol how idiots still reply to this thread amazes me

please refer to: http://www.universetoday.com/am/publ...mars_haox.html

No, Neptune is making an appearance on Leno. Apparently, he's getting together with Dawn, since they are no longer with Tony Orlando. :winkwink:

I'm more partial to Venus myself. I firmly believe there is life on Venus.... a society of all-female amazons who are in desparate need of men. They get all our sports feeds and have an endless supply of beer as well. Oh, and they all love anal.

Thank you.

geesh...thanks for the info..

pfffffff, watever, i am already on fucking Mars posting on GFY.

NASA who? i am so COOL.

:xmas-smil Don't be upset, Biggle. I'll still be making an appearance in the night sky come December.

but.. but.. its GFY.. it has to be true !!!

yet one more thread that wasted my day - why do I ever come here?