For the past several months, we’ve received a lot of questions about an email that’s been making the rounds ~ and it goes something like this: “The Red Planet Mars is about to be spectacular! On August 27, Earth will catch up with Mars. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287….Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye…etc.”
Here are the facts: Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter this year on October 30th at 0319 Universal Time. Distance: 69 million kilometers. To the unaided eye, Mars will look like a bright red star, a pinprick of light, certainly not as wide as the full Moon.
Disappointed? Don’t be. If Mars did come close enough to rival the Moon, its gravity would alter Earth’s orbit and raise terrible tides.
You might remember another encounter with Mars, about two years ago, on August 27, 2003. That was the closest in recorded history, by a whisker, and millions of people watched as the distance between Mars and Earth shrunk to 56 million km. This October’s encounter, at 69 million km, is similar.
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