Mars is coming close....

[eddie gunks]

so i got bad info. next time i will check. sorry

 

[Terence]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but:
http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp

 

[keeds]

That's spooky as I've literally just finished reading War of the Worlds. Very good read on many levels by the way...

 

[Ole]

That was in August 27th 2003, not 2007.

Most of the rest of that is also incorrect - especially the "Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye" bit.

 

[Photo Engineer]

That's spooky as I've literally just finished reading War of the Worlds. Very good read on many levels by the way...

For a fun read, try the 'sequel', "The Earth Invasion of Mars". It was written about 2 - 10 years after H. G. Wells book but by another equally famous author of that period.

PE

 

[Lee L]

This bad info repeats every year since 2003, and is discussed here on APUG as well as many other places.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

There is, however, a more typical close approach (opposition) of Mars this year, centered on December 24, 2007.

See http://seds.org/~spider/spider/Mars/marsopps.html for some factual information.

Lee

 

[copake_ham]

Another reason this falsehood may be popping up is that there is a launch window to Mars over the next two weeks and NASA is planning to send a the Phoenix, a polar probe.

As I understand it, if they miss this launch window the mission will have to wait 2 years.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html

 

[eddie gunks]

damn! sorry guys! i guess i am a dumbass.

so what do you think about the 167 million dollars i am getting from a Nigerian fellow......a spoof too? :)))

 

[Lee L]

damn! sorry guys! i guess i am a dumbass.

so what do you think about the 167 million dollars i am getting from a Nigerian fellow......a spoof too? :)))

Don't feel too bad. Two years ago, in 2005, my local library put up an entire bulletin board announcing the events with the days and months from 2003 and telling people how to view the non-event, without checking their sources. They even posted the "large as the full moon" info, most likely originally a misreading of something like "through a telescope Mars will look as big as the full moon does to the unaided eye", which is still stretching the truth a bit, given typical atmospheric conditions. As far as my astronomy friends and I can tell, this originated as an undated and poorly revised news release from 2003, and we all know how people on the internet can be about propagating "facts"...

With your cut from the Nigerian deal you could probably afford a nice scope with which to view the December opposition this year. Maybe not...

Lee

 

[Robert Brummitt]

That's spooky as I've literally just finished reading War of the Worlds. Very good read on many levels by the way...

I love HG Wells work. He was far and above all the great writer of his time. Too bad, The latest version of War was with Tom Cruise. It fell way short of what I was hoping for. I'm currently reading John Steinbeck for my summer enjoyment.

 

[bjorke]

Oh... wait, by Jove -- wrong Mars.