Mars coming close to earth?

Mull3t · 26 Aug 2008 at 10:11

lol.

Just recieved an e-mail from a geeky dude in my office telling everyone that on the 27th August at approx 12.30am Mars will be visable to the naked eye, and will look like we have 2 moons.

As Mars comes 34.65M miles of earth.

Anyone know if this is true? lol.

TriedandTested · 26 Aug 2008 at 10:14

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07jul_marshoax.htm

Mull3t · 26 Aug 2008 at 10:16

haha, thought was a hoax, being as it takes like a year/2 years for NASA to get to mars lol.

ScarySquirrel · 26 Aug 2008 at 10:33

Why is it a hoax? That NASA link says it IS true that it will be close to earth.

Dano · 26 Aug 2008 at 10:34

ScarySquirrel said:
Why is it a hoax? That NASA link says it IS true that it will be close to earth.

Because it will not be close enough to look like a second moon.

ScarySquirrel · 26 Aug 2008 at 10:41

Dano said:
Because it will not be close enough to look like a second moon.

Oh, I missed that bit. Imagine that, LOL!

Slinwagh · 26 Aug 2008 at 10:45

Various planets come closer to the earth at various times due to their orbit of the sun.

As for seeing them with them with the naked eye, you can.

Tefal · 26 Aug 2008 at 10:48

Slinwagh said:
Various planets come closer to the earth at various times due to their orbit of the sun.

As for seeing them with them with the naked eye, you can.

yeah but not second moon style, more oo that star is quite bright/funny colour. kind of see them.

chiggz · 26 Aug 2008 at 10:56

Any news on when this will actually happen next?

EffBee · 26 Aug 2008 at 11:00

I guess, from memory and without searching the web for really accurate numbers, that the Earth - Mars distance varies from about 50 Million miles to 300 million miles.

The relative distance doesn't change very fast - we are talking about planets moving around the sun here - not moons orbiting a planet. Therefore to say that a planetary alignment such as this will happen very quickly for a short period of time at a certain time and date is nonsense. Any changes would be barely perceptible to human senses over weeks.

This is simple primary school level stuff and it is a sad reflection of science in education these "hoaxes" ever see the light of day imao.

Radiation · 26 Aug 2008 at 19:39

I've always wondered something, you know in games and even tv/films they sometimes show planets really close to another, in reality is that possible or would the size and closeness be a problem?

I always thought it was a bit stupid and just wouldn't be possible in reality but it would nice to know for sure.

Tefal · 26 Aug 2008 at 19:43

Radiation said:
I've always wondered something, you know in games and even tv/films they sometimes show planets really close to another, in reality is that possible or would the size and closeness be a problem?

I always thought it was a bit stupid and just wouldn't be possible in reality but it would nice to know for sure.

I dunno if they are orbiting each other it may be possible.

I'd love to see what Pluto's (thats the one with the moon 1/4 its size right?) moon looks like when it's in the sky.

Greenlizard0 · 26 Aug 2008 at 19:44

Wow, cool that's in a few hours. Will look forward to trying to look for it.

Mr.Clark · 26 Aug 2008 at 19:46

Radiation said:
I've always wondered something, you know in games and even tv/films they sometimes show planets really close to another, in reality is that possible or would the size and closeness be a problem?

I always thought it was a bit stupid and just wouldn't be possible in reality but it would nice to know for sure.

mavity. Tides. Crazyness. It's in the NASA link...

Greenlizard0 · 26 Aug 2008 at 19:49

According to QI we have two moons around the Earth. Now I was a bit sceptical about this, particularly as they have been wrong and complained about before. Is this true?

Tefal · 26 Aug 2008 at 19:50

Greenlizard0 said:
According to QI we have two moons around the Earth. Now I was a bit sceptical about this, particularly as they have been wrong and complained about before. Is this true?

iirc it's between 5 and 12. but they are far too small to be called moons/aren't even round.

Greenlizard0 · 26 Aug 2008 at 19:51

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=578

Some more information there.

Radiation · 26 Aug 2008 at 19:52

Mr.Clark said:
mavity. Tides. Crazyness. It's in the NASA link...

I thought as much, so really they shouldn't do it, i know its for the cool visuals but its always felt quite unrealistic to me.

Tefal · 26 Aug 2008 at 19:54

Radiation said:
I thought as much, so really they shouldn't do it, i know its for the cool visuals but its always felt quite unrealistic to me.

The space ships blasters, and light sabers etc perfectly fine though

Grrrrr · 26 Aug 2008 at 20:42

Radiation said:
I've always wondered something, you know in games and even tv/films they sometimes show planets really close to another, in reality is that possible or would the size and closeness be a problem?

I always thought it was a bit stupid and just wouldn't be possible in reality but it would nice to know for sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_planet

Also search for binary stars