Has anyone heard of the amazing opportunity that is going to happen?

No, sorry, this is a hoax perpetuated after a misunderstanding of a report of an actual event that took place in 2003. Mars made its closest approach in recorded history then, but even then it was still about 35 million miles away. The information circulated at the time staed that WHEN VIEWED WITH AT LEAST 75x MAGNIFICATION, Mars would appear as large in a telescope as the moon does to the unaided eye.

Somewhere along the line the bit about magnification has been lost, and since the original e-mail didn't include the year on it this has been picked up and run with every year since. Every August we see people turn up here asking about Mars being as big as the Moon. Mars will NEVER appear as big as the Moon without the aid of a telescope, and certainly not this August. It is currently moving away from the Earth, having made its closest approach earlier this year.

On August 27, 2003, there was an opposition of Mars (relative to Earth) which was the closest ever. Barely 34 million miles.

At that distance, the apparent diameter of Mars was 1/75 the apparent diameter of the Moon.

Some astronomer pointed out that if you were to look at Mars through a 75x telescope (very common for amateurs), then you would see Mars as large as you see the Moon with your naked eye.

A journalist reported this but forgot about the telescope part. "Mars will appear as big as the Moon".

The following year (2004) someone sent around an email "predicting" that Mars would appear as large as the Moon. At first, we thought that it was a joke just intended to make fun of the poor journalist.

However, every year, the hoax email keeps coming back. At some point, someone even used it to calculate how fast information could travel around the world on internet. However, we do not know if that was the original intent of the hoax.

One key element is that oppositions of Mars (the moment when Mars and Earth are aligned, relative to the Sun, with Mars closest to us) do NOT happen at the same date every year (in fact, there is an interval of 780 days = 2 years and 49 or 50 days, depending on leap years), so that another opposition on August 27 is still centuries away.

In August 2010, Mars is almost on the other side of the Sun (just about maximum distance from us) and it would appear very tiny even in a 75x telescope.

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PS:

The text quoted by SARANATHAN L is from the actual announcement in... 2003.

Note the last sentence about a 75x telescope.

This is an urban myth which began with an email which was sort of true in 2003, that Mars would be very close and bright. It also had a line in it which suggested that Mars, IN A 75x TELESCOPE, would look as large as the Moon with the naked eye. Somewhere along the way, the "with a telescope" bit disappeared. August 2003 came and went, and many people had wonderful views of Mars through telescopes provided by amateur astronomers around the world.

Then the email resurfaced in 2004, when Mars was on the far side of the Sun. Then again in 2005, when Mars was in opposition in October, not August, and quite a bit smaller. Then again in 2006, when Mars was again on the far side of the Sun. Then again in 2007, when opposition was in December, and Mars smaller still. Now, you've been fooled by this fake email in 2010! Mars is again on the far side of the Sun.

When will people learn that astronomical events are predicted for a particular date, which has absolutely nothing to do with Earth years, and you can't just keep recycling the same prediction and changing the year? Everything on Mars happens in a 26 month cycle: August 2003, October 2005, December 2007, January 2010, etc.

The facts: in August 2010, Mars will be very far away from the Earth. Even when it next gets close, in March 2012, it will still be twice as far away as it was in August 2003. And even then, it was only 1/75 the size of the Moon.

Have you seen Mars lately? It is nearly adjacent to the setting sun, clearly visible to the naked eye (if you look quickly before it sets) as a dim reddish object in the early evening western sky. Now, what does that tell you? If Mars appears to be near the Sun, and if it is occupying an orbit outside the Earth's orbit, then it must be on the opposite side of the Sun, right? It cannot be on our side of the Sun, since then it would be between us and the Sun, and that makes no sense.

Mars is currently about as far away from us as it ever gets. It is difficult to see any details on its surface, because it is so far away right now that it appears small and dim. The "opportunity " that you are referring to is an annual event - an internet hoax that shows up every year when it gets warm enough for the people that promote it to heave themselves up off the sofa, go outside, and look up for one time each year. They know little about the planets, and even less about where they can be seen and what that means. Don't believe their uninformed ramblings.

This is a hoax that has started in 2003 as a chain email.

Seen from Earth, Mars will never ever look as large as the Moon, or at least any time in the foreseeable future. Huge and dramatic changes would have to occur in the Solar System for that to happen.

So, yes, we heard all about this "amazing opportunity", but it's sheer nonsense.

Yes, many of us have heard of it, and are aware of it's origins in 2003. We also know it is a mixture of deliberate hoax and misunderstanding. The only time Mars will ever look as large as the Moon is when we send manned spacecraft there. It will look about that size only when the craft gets much closer.

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This hoax again.

Mars made its closest approach in Aug. 2003. Even then it only appeared as large as the moon if you were viewing through a telescope!

Mars isn't going to appear as large as the Moon on August 27th. This comes from a hoax e-mail which circulates every year at this time. For more information:

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/hsblog/2007/08/two-moon...

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/o...

http://www.snopes.com/science/astronomy/brightmars...

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/09jun_mars...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8184351.stm

Impossible. it's a hoax and you fell for it. mars's closest encounter was 35 MILLION miles. there is no way mars will be as big as a full moon if it's 35 MILLION miles away.