Bursting the Mars bubble

I should have known better, to think that we would get by another August without the Mars/moon hoax e-mail showing up. It did, again, as it has every year since 2003.

The one that says that Mars will be closer to the Earth on Aug. 27 than it has been in 6,000 years and will be as big as the full moon to the naked eye and that we should tell everyone we know about it and to pass this e-mail along to everyone on our mailing list.

This year I didn't get that e-mail personally. This time it was my grandson who called with an excited voice to ask if I knew about Mars and the moon.

I really hated to burst his excited bubble, but I had to tell him it wasn't true and hasn't ever been true, and won't ever be true.

This particular e-mail/hoax has been around since 2003 when Mars indeed did make a close approach to the Earth, in fact, the closest approach in 60,000 years. Mars indeed was a bright object in the night sky then, looking like a very bright, very red star, but no more than that. I remember, I was there, I saw it.

If Mars did come close enough to the Earth to appear as large as the full moon to the naked eye, its gravity would alter the Earth's orbit and raise terrible ocean tides to the point of destruction and catastrophe on the Earth.

Orbital mechanics dictate that Earth and Mars will come close to each other about every 26 months.

Since the orbits are ellipses and not circles the distance between the two is not always the same at each pass.

At close approach, about every two years Mars does indeed look very large in the night sky, but only as a red star.

In fact, at the present time, Mars is on the far side of the Sun from Earth in its orbit. It can be seen in the evening sky just after sunset but only with great difficulty and it will be necessary to use a telescope to see it. After it passes behind the sun it will reappear as a morning sky object.

I would recommend this, The next time you get an e-mail about Mars being as big as the full moon, and the suggestion that you send it to everyone you know, do what I do, hit the delete key.

SKY WATCH: If you do want to see Mars, it is still an evening object, but not for much longer. Look in the west about a half-hour after sunset for bright Venus.

If the clouds are not too thick you might get a glimpse of Mars. It will be very dim and about seven degrees to the upper left of Venus, just a little further than the width of your clenched fist held at arm's length.

In the same binocular view, with Venus will be Mercury, the first planet out from the sun. Over the next few days Venus and Mercury will move closer to Mars until on Sept. 11, Venus and Mars will be within less than one degree, about two full moon widths, from each other.

Remember, this closeness is an optical illusion as Mars is much, much further beyond the sun and Venus, they only look like they are close together.

Mars will soon slip below the western horizon while Venus will go to an Oct. 25 conjunction with Antares in Scorpius, the Scorpion.

The near-first-quarter moon will slide just south of Antares on Saturday and will be near Jupiter on Tuesday.

NEXT TIME:

More astronomical blathering.