Mars will NOT be as Big as the Full Moon on August 27th!
It’s that time of year again, when the emails and powerpoint presentations start going around about Mars being as big or as bright as the Full Moon on August 27th. I’ve received several emails from people asking about it in the last couple of weeks.
It’s a hoax and email spam. You can safely ignore and delete it, and don’t propogate it by forwarding it onto people 
Mars, by Hubble
On August 27th 2003, Mars was at its closest to Earth for some time – still a distance of 56 million km, but some communication at the time hyped it up a bit more than necessary (it was never as bright or as big as the full moon).
Every year since then, an email has been circulated around the internet claiming various things like:
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“no human being has seen in recorded history”
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“NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN”
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“The Red Planet is about to be spectacular”
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“Mars will look as bright as the full moon”
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“It will look like the earth has 2 moons”
and that on August 27th everyone should race outside and look at Mars.
It’s all not true. Mars reaches opposition in late January, 2010, and even then it will still just look like a medium-brightness red star.
So tell your friends it’s a hoax and it’s spam, and wait until this time next year when you start receiving them again
Related posts:
- Well it’s not pretty, but it’s Mars!
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posted in Astronomy | 7 Comments
My name is Mike Salway and I'm an amateur astronomer and photographer. I'm the co-founder of 
I fell for that email! Absolutely gutted lol
LOL Don’t worry Paul, you weren’t the first and you won’t be the last
Hello Mike,
LOL, at first I didn’t believe the mails I’ve got.. but when I saw an article about it in a national newspaper I was stunned!
I even had a dream next day about it (the mars was bigger that the full moon 6 times! :D)
anyhow, thanks for your confirmation
LOL thanks Van, don’t worry – you weren’t the first and you won’t be the last to fall for it!
It’ll be around next year too I’m sure.
Ok, I fell for it. There are many phenomenon in space that allow credence to this story. When planets are lined up in the right part of the sky we can see all kinds of visual distortions. I am a NASA engineer and because this email was sent to me by another ‘trusted’ engineer I assumed it to be true, until I checked it out. I hope no one tells me that the email I got from a Nigerian prince isn’t true.
My son was real disappointed because it rained and he stayed up to watch
Well, the email is still circulating. I’m glad I did a little snooping or I would have fallen for it too.