Mars is Closing Up

And this opportunity won't come for another 5,000-20,000 years!



The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

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 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Uh sure :P one question how can we see mars when its has no light of its own D: oh yea the sun's light will be reflected. Oh and if this happens won't mars be puled by earth's gravity and get out of its orbit and stuff like that D: anyways i don't belive it will be large as the moon.

Besides i remember that it happened in 2003 or 2004 so yea not gonna happen.

« Last edited by dx_hbk on Aug 7th 2009 »

http://www.space.com/spacew...108.html 2003
http://space.about.com/libr...lose.htm 2009
Apparently, this (2009) one is a hoax: http://urbanlegends.about.c...gust.htm

D:

Damn you intraweb lies!

I won't believe it's a hoax until I hear from snopes.

It says the the 2009 one came from an email so yeah a hoax,but better safe than sorry...so i'll keep my eyes open on the 27th and if there isn't one, well I wasted about an hour of that day..

rofl, Possibly do a bit of research before believing everything you receive in an email Phil? :p

Lol. Tru dat Qwert.

PS: Why use a Back-up acc for stating that, Phil? O_o And I thought Back up accs weren't allowed.

now aint this a big bunch of haggis poo.

dont be stupid folks that is never going to happen . mars will never get that close. i meen the last time(the real one) it was barly visable at night never mind during the day



agen i repeet haggis poo to this

On 07-Aug-2009 7onewingedangel7 said:

Lol. Tru dat Qwert.

PS: Why use a Back-up acc for stating that, Phil? O_o And I thought Back up accs weren't allowed.

He's using his back up because he can't access his regular at the moment due to some glitch. They are allowed, but you're only allowed to use it if you either:

A: Completely stop posting on your other account
B: There is a real legit problem with your other account

Mars isn't that great. There's red dust. A lot of red dust. There's your grand tour.

When I first read the title I thought he meant that the Mars Bar company was shutting down.

On 07-Aug-2009 imaloony8.0 said:

Mars isn't that great. There's red dust. A lot of red dust. There's your grand tour.

So is Arizona but people still go there.

On 07-Aug-2009 Naruto101 said:

And this opportunity won't come for another 5,000-20,000 years!



The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

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 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

OH MY GOD!!! We're going to be invaded. And we're all doomed to die!!!!*Jumps out a window*

If mars was next to the moon and was that close to earth the tides on earth would be severly effected. Every 26 months mars is 35-40 million miles away and every 15-20 years mars is even closer. I don't think mars will come that close to be able to see as bright as the moon untill billion's of years into the future.

On 07-Aug-2009 7onewingedangel7 said:

Lol. Tru dat Qwert.

PS: Why use a Back-up acc for stating that, Phil? O_o And I thought Back up accs weren't allowed.

Exactly what qwertyuio said. I'll been this account once the problem has been looked at and an attempt(s) was/were taken to fix it.

If it can't be fixed, which I hope it can be because all my achievements are on that account, I'll probably switch to a new account. Naruto101 seems so... stereotypical and un-unique!

dam phil dident reconize you on this acount i forgot all about it lol
dam

Meh, that's okay. I rarely use it!


It really sucks that I missed this once in a life-time event by 5 years. ;_;

Well, I wish I could have seen in 2003... but we haven't heard anything on the News about Mars closing in late August this year, and we all know News is always up someone's butt. lol