The Great Mars Hoax, Part II

According to a popular e-mail that’s been circulating for years, tonight is when the planet Mars is expected to appear as large as the full moon. The problem is, it’s just not true, so I decided to re-post my earlier Mars Hoax blog to fill you in on the details.

The Red Planet did pass very close to Earth (at least in terms of celestial distance) back in August 2003, and this seems to be the source of this annual e-mail. Back in 2003 Mars passed about 35 million miles away from Earth, and the planet did appear slightly larger in the sky. Still, it wasn’t even close to looking as large as the full moon.

According to the excellent myth-buster Web site Snopes, Mars was exceptionally close to Earth in 2003. However, Mars comes almost as close every 15 to 17 years, and swings relatively close to Earth about every two or three years. You’ll have to wait until 2287 for Mars to come closer to Earth than it did back in 2003.

Of course, by then we’ll probably have some other form of spam communication to deal with.