Two moons on 27th August 2007

Close Encounter with Mars on August 27

Netlore Archive: According to a widely forwarded email, August 27 will bring the closest 'encounter' between Mars and Earth in recorded history

Description: Email flier
Circulating since: July 2003
Status: Outdated / False
Analysis: See below

Email example contributed by A. Sanchez, 25 July 2003:

Watch the Sky! Never again in your lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular! This month and next month the Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August, Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That's pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has seen in recorded history. So mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grows progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share with your children and grandchildren. No one alive today will ever see this again.

Comments: Roughly accurate -- in 2003, at any rate, which is when the above message was first composed by person(s) unknown and launched into circulation online.

It was not true, however, when the identical text circulated again in 2005, nor when it reappeared for another go-around in 2006, and once more in 2007.

The "Close Encounter with Mars" described in the email came and went in 2003.

On August 27 of that year, the orbital paths of Earth and Mars brought the two planets to within 34.65 million miles of one another -- closer than at any other time in the past 50,000 years. Though Mars never actually appeared "as large as the full moon to the naked eye" (as claimed in the email), the red planet did vividly dominate the night sky for a time, making 2003's close encounter a once-in-a-lifetime event indeed for astronomers, space enthusiasts, and ordinary observers alike.

Nothing so spectacular is predicted for 2007.