The (not so) Great Mars Hoax

Several people by now, must have received the circulating hoax e-mail that claims that Mars will be closer to Earth on the 27th of August 2008 than ever before, that it will not be this close again for thousands of years and also some sensational claim about it appearing as bright or large as the Moon.

 I did not receive this e-mail and so am not aware of its complete contents, but, can guess at the gist of it. I wonder whether the e-mail selects out Astronomers :-)?

Some news and electronic media might actually report this as an event to come, before Astronomers are contacted to clarify, as had happened in 2006 and 2007. Many people tend to eagerly wait, to see this wonderful phenomenon on August 27th and call up planetaria in their neighbourhood to ask if they are making arrangements to observe this event.

Funnily enough, astrologers might start with their usual bogus predictions about the effect this event will have on people's lives, as they had done in 2007. It is another matter that they could not even predict or calculate and know that there is no such celestial event at all :-)

This hoax e-mail chain has started following the Mars close approach of 2003, which was an actual event. On the 27th of August 2003, Mars was closer to Earth than it had been for several thousands of years before or after. It appeared bright and quite spectacular in the eastern skies in the evenings and people worldover enjoyed viewing Mars at that time. At its most spectacular, it did not still appear as big or as bright as the Moon - it could never do that without a drastic change in the orbits of Mars and Earth.

The "as big as the Full Moon" rumour would have started from a statement by Astronomers, explaining the Mars opposition that happens about once every two years, when the position of Mars is "analogous" to the position of the Full Moon. That is, when we see a Full Moon, the Earth is in the middle, with the Moon on one side and the Sun on the other. Similarly, when Mars is at opposition, Earth is in the middle, Mars is on one side and Sun on the other.

It was the opposition of Mars in 2003 as well as its closest approach in thousands of years. In 2005, there was another opposition of Mars.

 On August 27th 2008, there is nothing special connected with Mars, sorry to disappoint those who have been waiting for this event. Mars is not even close to its opposition, a phenomenon that happens once in about two years, when it is relatively brighter than at other times.

Written by Dr. N. Rathnasree, Director, Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi.