E-mail hoax states that Mars will be size of the moon in August; NASA disagrees

By Colette Lefebvre

Nevada Daily Mail

The planet Mars, named for the Greek god of war, is the fourth planet from the sun and the seventh largest planet in the solar system. A recent rash of e-mails circulating in the United States asserts that Mars is going to appear as large as the moon, on Aug. 27, but experts, who have recently been inundated with a plethora of calls on this topic, state that the e-mail is a hoax.

The e-mails would contain some truth, if it were the summer of 2003, that is. This same e-mail was sent to many in 2003, when Mars did in fact move the closest to earth that it has ever been. In 2003, it appeared as a blazing red star in the night sky. But Mars never will appear as large as the moon, experts say.

Scientists state that for the rest of 2006 Mars is on the far side of the sun from Earth and throughout late July and August the red planet is about as inconspicuous, from the perspective of viewers on Earth, as it can get. It is estimated to be low in the west at sunset and by September 2006 as Earth continues to outpace Mars in orbit the moon will bring the sun between Earth and Mars and when this occurs Mars will not be visible at all. It will be crossing the sun with the sky during the day. According to NASA, during the months of July and August 2006, Mars is too close to the sun for safe viewing by amateur astronomers. Mars is visible with difficulty after sunset for the first two weeks of the month before becoming lost in the glare of the sun by the month's end. So, Mars will not be close enough for the human eye to view it and it will not appear the size of Earth's moon.

NASA advises viewers and amateur astronomers that Mars will hardly be visible.

For more information on NASA'S Mars Exploration Program visit www.nasa.com. For information on Mars www.nineplanets.org and www.earthsky.net.