Does anyone out there know when the Planet "MARS" will be most visable this month ?

Question

Does anyone have a link to the Planet "MARS" event coming this month ? Please let me know. This web-site that will NOT allow me to post ANY question,

PLEASE ADVISE !

Answer 1

Mars is visible int the west just after Sunset.  And, we're rapidly loosing it for a few months to the glare of the Sun.

The email that is going around is based on one that was accurate in 2003, when on August 27th, Mars was as close as it gets to the Earth in their orbits.  It's called an opposition, when the Sun, Earth and Mars were lined up.  This happens about every two years.  The next one happens in January, 2010.

We will not have "two moons" in the sky this month.  We didn't have that in 2003.  The original line was "Mars, in a 100x telescope, will appear the size of the Full Moon (without a telescope)." The idea was to give you a good idea of the kind of detail one might see through a modest telescope view of Mars.  Just look at the Moon.

Answer 2

Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky Starting August.  It will look as large as the full moon to the naked Eye on Aug 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of earth. Be sure to watch The sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons. The Next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again.

Answer 3

Mars is visible just after sunset low in the eastern sky.

Answer 4

Hi Atuo!

Mars actually is visible from some places this month, although not in the way some spam e-mails are telling people.

Spammers are out there repeating a hoax that makes the rounds every August, about Mars "coming out" and being the size of the full moon.  It's complete nonsense, of course.  Mars is a distant planet, and can never be seen bigger than star-size from earth's skies.

In real life, Mars is easy to spot, when it's in season, and it doesn't suddenly "come out" the way hoaxsters tell people.  In fact, it's good that you asked this question because, if you're like me, the discoveries you make may lead you to a lifelong interest in the skies.  You'll benefit from discovering how the planets actually appear.

Mars and the other bright planets (except Mercury) are easy to spot in the sky.  They're usually at least as brilliant as the brightest stars.  Often, they're many times brighter.  They stay out for months at a time, and you can't miss them.

This very night, as soon as it gets dark, you should go out to look.  Find a place where you can see southward.  You'll immediately spot a brilliant star, the brightest oblect in the sky.  But it's not a star.  It's Jupiter!  You can't miss it, and it's so bright that nothing can compare with it.  Jupiter will stay out in the evening sky until the end of November, after which it starts to disappear into the evening twilight.

And you did ask about Mars.  You can't very well see Mars now, August 2008, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere.  Mars is doing now what Jupiter will do in December.  Mars has been out every evening this year, gradually drifting down toward the western horizon, a little further each night.  Now, it's too close to the bright horizon to be seen.

If you were in the Southern Hemisphere, say from Australia, you could see it about one to 1 1/2 hours after sunset.  Mars happens to be a little higher in the sky there.

One thing you can be sure of, though.  The two-moons e-mail is pure hoax.  No planet ever gets big enough to look like the moon.  Somewhere in the world, the hoaxsters are laughing at us, and quite possibly pulling in some money too.

Answer 5

Both you and the answerer josyul026 have got hold of the same false information.  This comes from a hoax e-mail which circulates every year at this time. For more details, see: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/hsblog/2007/0...

In fact, Mars will be difficult to see this month as it is far away from Earth and almost lost in the evening twilight.