Mars as big as the moon on Sunday 7th August

[Nøz]

On Sunday 7th of August (this Sunday) Mars is going to look as big as the moon in the night sky! (can't be guarenteed but it's almost definate) this won't be happening again until the year 2082 so make the most of it!!!!

 

[Lee]

27th*

 

[Jim Prower]

Uhh, unless it's a new moon, that's an impossibility.

Mars is (and will always be) too far away to be that big.

 

[DQuaN]

As big as the moon? No chance. Link?

 

[Duke]

On Sunday 7th of August (this Sunday) Mars is going to look as big as the moon in the night sky! (can't be guarenteed but it's almost definate) this won't be happening again until the year 2082 so make the most of it!!!!

Where in the name of trees did you get this?

Mars is not that much larger than the moon at 1:1 scale. And it's about a hundred times farther away. There's no way it's going to look "almost definate"ly the same size.

 

[Famine]

This is the oddest thing I've ever heard. Mars is roughly similar in size to the Earth's core. In order for it to appear in the sky about the same size as the Moon it'd need to be no more than 500,000km away - when in fact it is nearer 50,000,000km away.

Where did you get this gem?

 

[Jordan]

This is a really popular email hoax making the rounds right now, everybody who is somebody has received it.

For full details: http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp

 

[Famine]

I see. So through a 75x lens it'll appear as big and bright as a full moon does with a 1x lens (or "the eye"). So in fact it's 75 times smaller and dimmer than a full moon. Or will be next Christmas.

Well book the observatory...