An email circulating annually since 2003 claims that Mars will come close enough to Earth to look as large as the moon does with the naked eye. Not true.
This hoax began from a true situation: in August 2003, Mars came as close to the Earth as it had in 60,000 years. Through a moderately powered telescope, Mars would have appeared about the same size as the moon does with the naked eye.
The part about the "moderately powered telescope" was somehow dropped and the story spread that one could look into the night skies -- this year's email claimed it would happen on August 27, 2009 -- and see a red planet that rivaled the moon in its size.
In the actual 2003 event, Mars appeared about three time its normal size with the naked eye -- that is, it looked like a very, very bright star.
Every 15 to 17 years, Mars comes almost as close to Earth as it did in 2003, the next time being in 2018. But it will never appear as large as the moon to the unaided eye. If it did, we'd be in big trouble, as its gravitational pull would be so great, its effects on the tides would be unimaginable.
Here's the full scoop on Snopes.com: http://www.snopes.com/science/astronomy/brightmars.asp
April 25, 2009
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