Mars and M44 image by Peter Wienerroither
In August 2010, you will find Mars every evening low in the west after the sun goes down. Mars appears in Earth's sky as a reddish dot of light.
Click here to enlarge image above
How can you see Mars in August 2010? Every year since 2003, a hoax email has circulated saying Mars will appear as large as the full moon on August 27. Don’t believe it. Mars can never appear as large as a full moon as seen from Earth.
More about the hoax: Will Mars appear as large as a full moon in August 2010?
In August 2010, Mars is faint and low in the west after sunset. Not only is it not as large as a full moon, it’s barely noticeable as a tiny dot of light in the sunset glare.
Around August 27 – the day of the hoax – Mars will be near the planet Venus on our sky’s dome. Venus is the sky’s brightest planet and the third-brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon. In August 2010, you can use Venus to guide your eye to Mars.
Why is Mars so faint in the summer of 2010? If you did not know where to look for it, you’d never notice this planet now. It’s faint because it’s far away from us now. In fact, throughout most of 2010, Mars has been falling behind Earth in orbit. After all, our orbit around the sun is smaller than Mars’ orbit. And Earth moves faster in orbit than Mars does.
How did the Mars hoax get started?
If Mars is faint now, why is an email circulating saying Mars will look bright and as big as a full moon? In fact, that email has circulated every summer since 2003.
In 2003, Mars was at its closest to Earth. Here’s some background. About every two years, Mars suddenly becomes very noticeable in our sky. For example, in 2010, Mars was most noticeable in January and February. Mars was closest to Earth on January 27, 2010. Earth passed between the sun and Mars on January 29, 2010 in an event called an “opposition” by astronomers. In August 2010, Mars has faded in brightness, and it’s up only for a short time after sunset. But around January and February 2010, Mars was opposite the sun in our sky. It was bright and noticeable because it was at its closest to Earth for this two-year period.
However, Mars was never as bright – or as close to Earth – in 2010 as it can be. Mars’ distance from Earth varies from one opposition to the next.
That’s because Mars’ orbit around the sun is not circular. Instead, its an ellipse, like a circle someone sat down on. Depending on the opposition, Mars can be as close as 35 million miles from Earth. That was the case in 2003, when the Mars hoax email started circulating.
In 2003, Mars came minutely closer to Earth than it had been in almost 60,000 years. These very close martian oppositions happen every 15 or 17 years. They happen when Earth passes between the sun and Mars within a few weeks of Mars’ perihelion (the point in its orbit when it is closest to the sun). Was Mars as large as the moon on August 27, 2003 then? No. But Mars was incredibly bright and amazing in 2003 – like a dot of flame in the night sky.
Meanwhile, in other years – such as this year – Mars can be more than 60 million miles away at opposition. The diagram at right – which is by Courtney Seligman – depicts Mars and Earth at various oppositions. See how Mars was about 62 million miles away this year at opposition, in contrast to 35 million miles for the 2003 opposition? As you can imagine, Mars wasn’t as bright at this year’s opposition as it was at the famous opposition of 2003.
Still, you should look for Mars. Faint or bright, there’s something about the red planet that stirs the imagination.
The planet Mars has fascinated earthly stargazers for thousands of years. If you were a dedicated Mars-watcher, you would understand why. This planet, which is located one step beyond Earth in orbit around the sun, spends months and months appearing as a faint dot of reddish light in our predawn sky. Then suddenly it begins to brighten and rise noticeably earlier. Soon it’s visible in the east at 3 a.m., then midnight, then late evening. Then it comes to opposition, when Earth is passing between Mars and the sun (as it did this year on January 29). At opposition, Mars is visible in the east at sunset. Around opposition, you can find Mars somewhere in the sky all night long. Then it begins to fade again, as has happened now.
No wonder early stargazers associated Mars with the god of war. It must have seemed as it Mars returned on a regular schedule to rule the night.
Mars is always fascinating to behold. Try spotting Mars in the west after sunset before it fades entirely from view later this year. You can tell your friends: “I saw Mars in 2010!”
Very good.
everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but you need not disrespect others just because they have different beliefs, BUT as for me and my house we will serve the Lord! I wasn’t around to say this happened or that happened…nor were any of the people who’ve made their opinions known…but the feeling of pure bliss for me, has only come from one thing, praising Our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ. I never, EVER thought I’d be saying anything of the sorts, I always talked about the “holy rollers” but, here I am eating my words. oh well.
ROCK ON MARS!
didn’t realize a planet would spark such debate.
I thank God every night for inventing the internet so I can read theological debates on a “Best time to see Mars in 2010″ web page.
(note that dripping sound is sarcasm)
Some stuff should just fall off the radar right away.
This has not.
I wonder what it says in general about the state of education in this so-called
“information age” that such a profound piece of mis-information persists?
The belief by too many that an object 4220 miles in diameter at a mean distance of 230 million miles could subtend an angle of one half degree in Earth’s skies (as does the Moon)?
How did anybody ever make that sale?
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist – - – do you?
If this type of abject nonsense can linger in the popular psyche for almost a decade – - – where the heck are we really?
When radio broadcast the Martians had landed in Grovers Mill New Jersey people believed it. That was October 1938.
In August 2010 with the the internet Mars is still fooling people.
Our machines have come a long way but we it seems, have not traveled very far in all that time. Not yet.
We’ve watched this hoax grow in popularity every summer since 2003.
We live in the mis-information age!
- ES
While I believe you guys make very good points on this, I actually thought it was possbile up to last night. Each time I heard of it I never thought of actually looking the information up.
My friends and I are not very interested in science, but we thought it would be so beautiful. And so I decided to check when it would be best to see it, that was when I learned it would never be that big.
The point I am making is that not everyone is going to check if what tey are reading is true. So you don’t have to be so harsh.
Religion Fail.
haha mark, that is fantastic and i like you simply due to your response! i thought that i was the only person who referred to some people as a “waste of skin”. Excellent!
I went outside on 8/27/2010 looking for a giant candy bar the size of our moon. all i saw was a bright light in the sky .i said to myself ,self is that a walmart shopping center parking lot light or is it mars the planet ?i decided to stop drinking for the rest of the night and fell asleep. in the morning when i awoke the only bright light that was shinning was the sun.is that normal or what.e.