What exactly is going to happen with Mars tonight?

Question

What exactly is going to happen with Mars tonight?

Answer 1

i'm gonna eat it, maybe with some pretzels and a glass of beer...

Answer 2

Once every thirty-two years Mars is closer than thirty-five million miles from Earth. Tonight it will be that close, you will never see Mars shine more brightly, don't miss it.  

Answer 3

There is a hoax that has been travellign through the internet the past year or so that tmars will be the same size as the moon... this is a complete joke and is not possibly true.

To the naked eye Mars will look exactly the same as any other night.

If you using a telescope though then the last 3 years have been the times it has been closest to earth in many thousands of years.

Answer 4

This stems back to the opposition a few years ago, when Mars was going to be at it's closest to us for hundreds of years (maybe even ever).

The original head line (which was very misleading) said that Mars would look the same size as The Full Moon.

But what they went on to say in the article (which is true) - in a much smaller font :) - was that Mars would look the same apparent size, with a magnification of 50x as the full moon does to the unaided eye!

Every few years this hoax, comes back - but it is complete rubbish.

Cheers

Ant

www.stargazerslounge.com

Answer 5

take a look at where Mars is right now in relation to the Earth, then roll back the time 1 year at a time to 2003

Mars was close, then.

1)  Mrs Doyle... shame shame... Google is your friend.

2)  Often I have seen people link a NASA site when this hoax starts up (every d**n year)... but the NASA article CLEARLY says Mars will be brighter than usual.  It NEVER mentions anything about Mars being as bright or as big as the full Moon.  The morons never even read their own links they purport as evidence supporting their phoney-baloney claims!

Answer 6

God d**n, this had better not be about that whole 'Mars will be as big as the moon' thing.

That is a hoax, it's been running since 2003 - it's a load of bull.

I hate this. People get taken in by it every year, every single year.

If you do your research, just a wee bit - go to BadAstronomy or UniverseToday (websites) and you'll find lots more info on it.

My apologies if you were referring to something else (like the rover on Mars).

Every damned year though!

Answer 7

Nothing is going to happen.

There is a hoax email going around that says Mars will look as big as the moon, but it is untrue.

Click the link below if you want more information.

Answer 8

  

Mars in 2008

There will be no close approach between Mars and Earth in August 2008, despite a variety of messages circulating on the internet to the contrary. Some of these messages might be well intentioned misinformation; others might be deliberate hoaxes. While we constantly encourage going out to observe and to admire the sky, we also want the public to be aware of incorrect information.

Mars and Earth approach each other closely about every 26 months. These close approaches occur around a time of an event that astronomers call an opposition, which happens when Earth lies on a straight light between a planet (Mars, in this case) and the sun. We saw a superb close approach in August 2003, followed by close approaches in October 2005 and December 2007. The next close approach is thus not August 2008 but January 2010.

Answer 9

I think it's going to be the closest it's ever been to Earth. Apparently it's supposed to be the same size as the moon when observed!

I shall be looking out for it tonight.

Nasa.gov will no doubt feature it.

Answer 10

Tonight, Mars will be pretty much like it was last night, and the night before, and the night before that.

Mars made its closest approach to Earth on 27 August 2003. Since then, it has been slowly moving away from us, and won't be close again until 2208.