Its August again and the mars hoax is back…

Emails and smses start circulating as soon as August arrives that mars will be closest to earth in August and will look like as big as the moon!

This can come true if Qayamat (day of judegement) arrives, but under the normal circumstances… this is impossible.

Because of the elliptic oribit of mars and earth.. there are times when the distance between earth and mars is as short as possible.. however..it still looks like a very very bright orangish star but never like the moon.

The Hoax appears to have started in August 2003 when Mars came at a very close distance to Earth but then the facts got twisted, event was sensationalized and now it keeps re-occuring every August.

As reported in Sky and Telescope

“August 27th” is actually August 27, 2003. Mars did make a historically close pass by Earth at that time, and when magnified 75 times in a telescope, it looked (in the telescope) the size the Moon looks to the unaided eye.”

“In late August 2003 Mars came within 35 million miles of Earth, and in late October and early November 2005 it came within 43 million miles. Mars’s next opposition will come in December 2007, when it will be farther still, 55 million miles from Earth. For reference, the Moon orbits the Earth at an average distance of about 240,000 miles, and the average Earth–Sun distance is about 93 million miles.

Last year i received emails and smses to look out for mars-moon.. and this year too. Seems the hoax will just never stop!

Reference: Sky And Telescope: Mars Hoax Returns