RE: Mars up close!
Glenys,
some careless talk somewhere, Mars or any other planet can appear as big as you want it, all you need is a bi enough telescope. The moon and the sun are vastly different in size, but becuase the moon is much nearer to us than the sun, it appears to be the same size, hence the marvelous solar eclipses. The sun and the moon both 'subtend' an angle of about 1/2 a degree. There are 180 degrees from horizon to horizon, going up to the zenith (overhead), so you could get 360 suns or moons side by side, and no the sun nor the moon gets bigger as it nears the horizon, its just that its only at the horizon that you have anything, ege a building or a tree , to compare the size of the moon or sun with, and this fools you into thinking that they have got bigger.
Leonardo
RE: Mars up close!
Actually to be honest, most of this is a hoax.
NASA released a document stating the following,
" July 7, 2005: Just when you thought it was safe to read your email....
There's a rumor about Mars going around the internet. Here are some snippets from a widely-circulated email message:
"The Red Planet is about to be spectacular."
"Earth is catching up with Mars [for] the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history."
"On August 27th Mars will look as large as the full moon."
And finally, "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN."
Only the first sentence is true. The Red Planet is about to be spectacular. The rest is a hoax.
Here are the facts: Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter this year on October 30th at 0319 Universal Time. Distance: 69 million kilometers. To the unaided eye, Mars will look like a bright red star, a pinprick of light, certainly not as wide as the full Moon.
Sign up for EXPRESS SCIENCE NEWS delivery (Edit: wtf?)
Disappointed? Don't be. If Mars did come close enough to rival the Moon, its gravity would alter Earth's orbit and raise terrible tides." -NASA (This is NASA'a posting, not my own work! Credit for blasting the scam to pieces goes to them, I am just helping!)
It's the same message that went around in 2003, and even then only half of it was true.
-Nic
BTW: The link to that NASA page is
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/07jul_marshoax.htm
RE: Mars up close!
Thanks for that info, Nic! I can now relay it to Oz Uncle. I rather suspected I was correct about effects on the earth's orbit etc.
I thought it might have been a hoax - but there have been better ones in the past!
Love
Glenys
RE: Mars up close!
I wonder at times what drives some peeps. How do they get their rocks off putting hoaxes - spam - anything that is a lie - does not benefit the reader recipient, There are some sick sick b******s about,,, I wonder at NASA bothering to 'honour' the creep,, my message:
GET A LIFE
To repeat and add to waht has been said here. Mars will be VERY prominant this auntum and winter, not so much because of it nearness to us,, it has been nearer at opposition, but because of its unusual height in th night sky,,,
At oppostion it will be slightly over 20 seconds of arc in diameter, so to correct my calculations above:
say you are using a 6 inch reflector telescope F/8, ie a focal length of 48 inches, to get the apparent diameter of Mars in the telescope to be that of the moon , ie 30 minutes of arc, you would need a magnification of:
30X60/20 =90 and this is easily obtained by 1/2 inch eyepiece, since 48 divided by 1/2 is 96.
Leonardo
RE: Mars up close!
"I wonder at times what drives some peeps. How do they get their rocks off putting hoaxes - spam - anything that is a lie - does not benefit the reader recipient, There are some sick sick b******s about,,, I wonder at NASA bothering to 'honour' the creep,, my message:"
-Leonardo
Yes, I dont understand it either. But then there are people like me (Nic), who tell other people about it (garthur) and they join the good fight by telling others (Oz Uncle)! NASA is just doing what they have to so that people dont spend hours looking for an object as big as the moon... Why? You may ask? Because they are the AMERICAN space agency. And as soon as people discover it's fake, they will blame (who else) the AMERICANS! So they do what they can. Can't blame the poor guys. It must be hard being at the top 😉 Pass on the word that it's fake guys.
-Nic
P.S. Not dissing on any other space agencies or countries. I support them all, and hope that nations will always cooperate in space and stay unique from one another. God bless England especially in light of recent terror attacks.