I'm calling BS on this one but what do I know

[achiro]

Mars will be as large as a full moon to the naked eye"


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< BR>75-power magnification ...

Anyone?

[Newbomb Turk]

That was an old e-mail that was circulating around. From what I remember it was true, but it happened in 2003.

[IronSooner]

I didn't hear about that in '03, but that just means the news channels didn't mention it in the morning and I didn't see it here.

Being the 2nd brightest object in the sky sounds perfectly reasonable. Being as big as the moon, not so much. I suppose one could calculate that, but I'm too lazy.

[SicEmBaylor]

http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp

[achiro]

Part of me hates snopes. They take the mystery out of cool emails and stories.
Besides, haven't we got enough opinions and brains on the SO to come up with the answers on our own? I vote for an all out SO ban on snopes!!!!!:texan:

[StuIsTheMan]

I think the Mythbusters should have a shot at this one...

Then they can blow it up...


Jamie want big Boom