Old emails never die as we have discovered when the latest email circulated telling readers to watch the sky on August 27. Mars will appear as large as the moon.
In August 2003 Mars did come as close as it has for 60,000 years, but was still 35 million miles away. On the other hand the Moon is only 239,000 miles away, and appears around 400 times larger than Mars.
The email was spread around the world for the eight consecutive year — long after the supposed event actually took place. Mars right now is about 196 million miles from Earth, or just about as far away from us as the planet can get. According to astronomers, Mars will have an apparent diameter of about 4.4 arcseconds. At the same time the moon will have an apparent diameter of about 29.5 arcminutes.
Just after sunset tonight, Mars will rise in the western sky and look pretty much like an ordinary star that just happens to have a red tinge to it.
The Moon is moving away from Earth, at a rate of 3.8cm per year. One day it may appear as small as Mars, but not till long after the Sun has ballooned into a red giant and destroyed them both.
