August 15, 2011 at 14:28Will Mars be as big as the full moon in August 2011?
- Transfer
There are constant reports that on August 27, 2011, Mars will be as large as the full moon in the sky.
It happened again. People demand details about such a wonderful sight with the red planet Mars. Typically, reports say that on August 27, 2011, Mars will look like the full moon in the sky. The version I saw myself included a Powerpoint presentation, and it said that Mars and the Moon will be together as two Moons above the earth, and that it will be at the end of August.
That sounds great! Is this even possible?
Not. Not possible. All these messages are false. They appear every summer since 2003. Mars will never be able to look as big as the full moon, moreover, in August 2011 it will not even reach its full brightness.
In August 2011, Mars will look like a moderately bright star in the eastern part of the sky, for a few hours before dawn. Mars will be significantly brighter next year, shining very strongly on March 5, 2012, when it will be closest to Earth. And even on that day, Mars will look just like a bright star, very far from the size and brightness of the full moon. In fact, the last time Mars and the Moon were "like two moons" on January 29, 2010. If you were to look at Mars from the earth, then its diameter would be equal to 1⁄140 of the diameter of the full moon.
Red Planet Mars, image from the Hubble Space Telescope (NASA)
You would have to line 140 Mars planes, side by side, so that this line was the same length as the diameter of the moon.
Oh, Mars. The world of dreams and dreams. Mars is a world that rotates one step further than the Earth’s orbit. This is a world that is slightly smaller than the Earth, but slightly larger than the Moon. Mars is also much further than our moon. It is difficult to explain the relationship of these babies in the vast space around them, but I will try. Our moon is approximately one light second away. Traveling at a speed of 300 thousand kilometers per second, the light reflected from the surface of the moon will reach us in about a second. Meanwhile, light from Mars will go to Earth much, much longer - up to 20 minutes. Moreover, this time may vary depending on the motion of Mars and the Earth around the Sun. In other words, if Mars is on the same side of the Sun where the Earth is, then the distance from Mars to Earth is much smaller than when it is on the opposite side.
The moon is much closer than Mars and that is why we see it as a bright disk in the sky. Meanwhile, Mars never looks brighter for an eye than a star.
So where did these Mars-huge-and-bright-like-moon rumors come from? They began with the present event in 2003. On August 27 of that year, Earth and Mars were a little closer to each other than they were in the last 60,000 years. Our two worlds were only at a distance of 56 million km - three light minutes. The last people who saw Mars so close were Neanderthals. It was an extraordinary day and astronomers like me just talked about how close Mars was. Was it a spectacular sight? Yes! He looked like a point of flame in the night sky!
Was Mars as big and bright as the Moon? Never.
But the legend continues ...
Planet Mars will be very bright in the night sky starting in August. Even with the naked eye, the planet will be visible as a full moon. On August 27, Mars will pass only 34.65 thousand miles from the earth! August 27 at 00:30 look at this sight. It will look like two moons above the earth!
It happened again. People demand details about such a wonderful sight with the red planet Mars. Typically, reports say that on August 27, 2011, Mars will look like the full moon in the sky. The version I saw myself included a Powerpoint presentation, and it said that Mars and the Moon will be together as two Moons above the earth, and that it will be at the end of August.
That sounds great! Is this even possible?
Not. Not possible. All these messages are false. They appear every summer since 2003. Mars will never be able to look as big as the full moon, moreover, in August 2011 it will not even reach its full brightness.
In August 2011, Mars will look like a moderately bright star in the eastern part of the sky, for a few hours before dawn. Mars will be significantly brighter next year, shining very strongly on March 5, 2012, when it will be closest to Earth. And even on that day, Mars will look just like a bright star, very far from the size and brightness of the full moon. In fact, the last time Mars and the Moon were "like two moons" on January 29, 2010. If you were to look at Mars from the earth, then its diameter would be equal to 1⁄140 of the diameter of the full moon.
Red Planet Mars, image from the Hubble Space Telescope (NASA)
You would have to line 140 Mars planes, side by side, so that this line was the same length as the diameter of the moon.
Oh, Mars. The world of dreams and dreams. Mars is a world that rotates one step further than the Earth’s orbit. This is a world that is slightly smaller than the Earth, but slightly larger than the Moon. Mars is also much further than our moon. It is difficult to explain the relationship of these babies in the vast space around them, but I will try. Our moon is approximately one light second away. Traveling at a speed of 300 thousand kilometers per second, the light reflected from the surface of the moon will reach us in about a second. Meanwhile, light from Mars will go to Earth much, much longer - up to 20 minutes. Moreover, this time may vary depending on the motion of Mars and the Earth around the Sun. In other words, if Mars is on the same side of the Sun where the Earth is, then the distance from Mars to Earth is much smaller than when it is on the opposite side.
The moon is much closer than Mars and that is why we see it as a bright disk in the sky. Meanwhile, Mars never looks brighter for an eye than a star.
So where did these Mars-huge-and-bright-like-moon rumors come from? They began with the present event in 2003. On August 27 of that year, Earth and Mars were a little closer to each other than they were in the last 60,000 years. Our two worlds were only at a distance of 56 million km - three light minutes. The last people who saw Mars so close were Neanderthals. It was an extraordinary day and astronomers like me just talked about how close Mars was. Was it a spectacular sight? Yes! He looked like a point of flame in the night sky!
Was Mars as big and bright as the Moon? Never.
But the legend continues ...