Now what's wrong here?

Googling

mars close 25 august

reveals an explanation at the following site:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/librar..._encounter.htm

The info there is correct. Notice how deleting the text "will attain a
magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest
75-power magnification Mars will" from the email quoted there changes
the meaning completely.

The description "dominate the night sky" used in the article means that
Mars was still only a speck in the sky, although brighter than usual and
brighter than most stars.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Wormley"
Newsgroups: sci.astro.amateur
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 10:06 PM
Subject: Now what's wrong here?


wrote:
Ok, this was kinda wierd to me but here it goes...:
My little brother's science teacher said that on August 27 Mars would
be the closest it was in 6000 years and it would be the size of a full
moon.


See: http://www.google.com/search?q=Mars+Hoax

The only problem here is that the first hit is a science.nasa.gov
article from July 2005! For careless readers, like those circulating
the 2003 article, now think Mars will be spectacular on October 30.

Rick Evans
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Lat +42° 11' 07"
Lon -71° 04' 35"
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http://www.chempensoftware.com
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http://mysite.verizon.net/hiltonevan...troimaging.htm

wrote:
No, the thing I most wanted to ask is:
Do magazines sometimes print very out-of-date/ untrue articles? And I
mean, I know about gossip and stuff but what about stuff like
scientific journals?

Articles in nearly all science journals are juried, i.e., they are
approved by a panel of the author's peers who remain anonymous. No
respectable science journal would knowingly print untrue articles. And
"theory" does not equal "untrue."

Bob

wrote

My little brother's science teacher said that on August 27 Mars would
be the closest it was in 6000 years

That's impossible. Why, Earth itself was created just 5000 years ago!!


;-)

wrote:
No, the thing I most wanted to ask is:
Do magazines sometimes print very out-of-date/ untrue articles? And I
mean, I know about gossip and stuff but what about stuff like
scientific journals?

The most important thing is to stop using the National Enquirer
as your source for science news.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte