Yes … it’s happening again. An email is circulating suggesting that – on August 27, 2011 – Mars will appear as large as a full moon in Earth’s sky.
SEE MARS AS LARGE AS THE FULL MOON ON 27TH AUGUST 2011 Should be spectacular! Truly a once in a lifetime experience!
The version I saw actually included a powerpoint presentation, suggesting that Mars and Earth’s moon will appear as a “double moon” in late August.
It sounds amazing! Can it possibly be true?
No. It can’t. The email is a hoax. It has circulated every summer since 2003. Mars can never appear as large as a full moon as seen from Earth, and Mars will not even be at its brightest in August of 2011.
How to see Mars in August 2011
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In August of 2011 Mars appears as modestly bright star in the eastern sky during the wee hours before dawn. Mars will be substantially brighter next year, shining most brilliantly when this world comes closest to Earth on March 5, 2012. Even so, Mars will look like a bright star, with nowhere the size or brilliance of the full moon. In fact, the last time that Mars “doubled up” with the full moon was on the night of January 29, 2010. But as seen from Earth, Mars’ diameter was 1/140th the diameter of the full moon.
The red planet Mars, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA)
You would have had to line up 140 planet Mars – side by side – to equal the moon’s diameter.
Ah, Mars. World of dreams and visions. Mars is the world orbiting one step outward from Earth’s orbit. This world is slightly smaller than Earth – but slightly larger than Earth’s moon. Mars is also much much farther away than Earth’s moon. It’s hard to comprehend what little specks the planets and moons are in contrast to the vastness of space, but let me put it this way. Earth’s moon is about a light-second away. Traveling at 186,000 miles per second, light bouncing from the moon’s surface takes about a second to reach us here on Earth. Meanwhile, light from Mars takes much much longer to reach Earth – from several minutes to about 20 minutes – with the difference being the result of Earth’s and Mars’ motions around the sun. In other words, when Mars is on the same side of the sun as Earth, its distance from us is less than when it’s on the far side of the sun from us.
The moon is much closer than Mars, and that’s why we see the moon as a bright disk in our sky. Meanwhile – to the eye – Mars never appears as anything but a “star.”
So how did this rumor of Mars-as-big-and-bright-as-the-moon get started? It started with an actual event, in 2003. On August 27 of that year, Earth and Mars came very slightly closer than they’d been in nearly 60,000 years. Our two worlds, center-to-center, were less than 35 million miles apart – just over three light-minutes apart. The last people to come so close to Mars were Neanderthals. Astronomy writers like me had a field day that year, talking about Mars at its closest. Was it a spectacular sight? Yes! It looked like a dot of flame in the night sky.
Was Mars as big and bright as the moon, even at its closest in 2003? Never.
But the legend continues …
Very Clear…..thank you very much.
You’re welcome Jude!
Ah, but the hoaxes make the believers look up. Something that we should all do just a little more often.
yes the end of this world arrive only after august 2026 , maybe impact meteor on earth at the new moon , 11 september 2026 !!!!….
maha numeric astronome .
It could, if you used a telescope for Mars, magnifying it hundreds of times. That way, It could look just as big and detailed as the incredible picture shown in this article… Otherwise, using only your naked eyes or even binoculars, Mars is just a tiny red dot in the sky, even smaller than the two stars shining in its neighborhood in the pre-dawn sky: Betelgeuse and Aldebaran.
Hi Bibi, well … you wouldn’t quite see this much detail from a telescope on Earth. This image was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. But, with a telescope, you would see that Mars is a little reddish disk, not a pinpoint like the stars. You might glimpse its north and south polar caps. And you might notice dark markings on its surface.
I have been watching Mars with the naked eye all month so I appreciate the Hubble picture so much. Thanks. All your information in this site is such a wonderful way to learn about the magic of the Sky.
Thanks Larry!
Yes Deborah, I have fond memories of seeing Mars at it;s closes to Earth in 60,000 yrs. As you have noted, it was August (27 o 28, 2003 ), I viewed it’s beauty with my Mother from Cape Brton Islnd, Nov Scotia Canada’ East Coast. Wondrful night sky.
Thanks’ George MacInnis, Big Pond NS, Can.
Thank you George.
2003 was a wonderful year for Mars! Mars and Earth are on a 15-year cycle of close Martian oppositions … so Earth and Mars will be very close again around 2018.
[...] Will Mars appear as large as a full moon in August 2011? [...]
Is it possible that one of the many large asteroids or comets that will be making a close approach to the earth in November might appear in the night sky to look as if it were a second smaller moon?
For instance, “2005 YU55″ which may be as large as 240 meters across will be passing the earth at a distance of .8 LD on November 10, 2011.
LD stands for lunar distance and that means this asteroid will be closer to the earth than the moon is.
You can verify these facts at the JPL website http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/
Cynthia, to my knowledge, no.
Asteroids passing near Earth typically look like moving stars. Their movement might not even be discernible over the course of a single night. But if you watch from night to night, you can see they are closer than the stars … moving in front of the stars.
Deborah
Hi Deborah,
While this email is obviously false in that it is (mis?) describing the event which took place in 2003, I am not sure that the presentation’s claim is represented accurately in your text. The presentation I saw (and for which I am checking the veracity thanks to your otherwise excellent article) says: “At a modest 75-power magnification…Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.” In other words, a modestly magnified Mars will appear as large as an unmagnified moon. I’m not an astronomy buff, so perhaps the “75-power” reference is a gross underestimation, but if not, I think that what the presentation presents is plausible in terms of literal semantics.
Okay, the email’s title “There will be two moons in August” is obviously misleading, and many people viewing it have obviously been misled, but the actual claim does not seem so far-fetched (like me making the claim that if I look at a G.I. Joe doll across the room in a pair of binoculars, it will look as large as an actual person).
Anyway, thanks for the info. I appreciate your work!
All the best,
Erik
Hi Erik, thank you for your note. I’ve seen multiple variations on this email over the years. The one you describe sounds like one of the more informational and … dare I say it? … saner ones!
Some are just completely misleading, and some are fear-mongering …
Thank you for your note, and for visiting EarthSky.
All the best,
Deborah
Thanks, Deborah! I will.
All the best,
Erik
Ah, so it was Mars after all, that I was seeing.
During the early morning there was a bright red object, slightly bigger than a normal star.
I was wondering if it could be Mars, but so it was.
Thanks!
[...] Will Mars appear as large as a full moon in August 2011? [...]
[...] Will Mars appear as large as a full moon in August 2011? [...]
Well, i want to say thanks to the Deborah Byrd to share this information with us. I always like to know much about the universe and i always give reply if i have to tell more things about it. Today i came to know about many new things by reading this. I just want to say that keep continuouing sharing new informations with us and we will help you to tell new things that will help you to search on new topics.
Thank you for visiting, Bhavna!
The earth hasn’t even been here for 60,000 years; Maybe 7,000 years & thats about it! So anything is Possible.
Thanks for the
info…
Travis said “The earth hasn’t even been here for 60,000 years; Maybe 7,000 years & thats about it! So anything is Possible.”
No travis. There are trees that are nearly that old.
Not everything is possible.
Travis, you obviously must be the man in the car insurance commercial that has been living under a rock.
You may now crawl back under your rock.
[...] Will Mars appear as large as a full moon in August 2011? [...]
i wishe that the science researches protect earth from incomming desasters. According to the telecommunication system, stop every new inventions