Rumor has it…that at midnight Mars will dilate to the size of a full moon when the planet is near opposition–its closest approach to the earth.
A mass email seducing its readers to keep their eyes peeled for two moons is circulating the Internet. But is there any truth to the rumor?
Dr. Frederick Ringwald, Associate Professor of Physics at Fresno State, set the record straight.
“I’m sorry to have to inform you that there is no truth to the“Mars hoax,” said Ringwald. “It can never look as big as the Moon under any circumstances to the unaided eye, short of flying there in a spacecraft.”
“This is an Internet myth that apparently will not die,” he added. “I wish it would go away. It’s not true, and it has never been true.”
Greg Morgan of Sierra Remote Observatories, a state-of-the-art remote imaging site located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, said “It’s a myth and a bad one at that. It has come around every August for the past six years.”
The root of the tall tale is based on one fact that occurred on Aug. 27, 2003, when Mars made its closest encounter to earth since the 19th Century.
So, for all of you astronomy buffs who were looking forward to Friday night lights, there is no truth to the “Mars hoax.” My deepest apologies are with those who once again fell victim to yet another Mars rumor. Unfortunately, there is no human life on Mars either, or so NASA says. It looks like the only moons within distance from earth tonight will be the two over my hammy at Denny’s.
Illustration by Michael Uribes / The Collegian