I give up

2-3 nights a week I haul my scope out from its hiding place and check out
the light- and haze-polluted sky around my apartment complex. Not much to
see -- only the brightest objects show up -- for example, in Lyra, the only
naked-eye stars are Vega and Beta and Gamma Lyra. Occasionally a neighbor
wanders over to see what's up.

In the past two weeks, I have been asked by three people about the coming 27
August appearance of Mars when it will be as big as the Moon. I patiently
explain to them the facts of the matter and all three of them have been glad
to hear the facts.

Another one popped up today -- he heard the Mars story "on the news" and he
basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about, he's planning to
stay up all night, has invited some friends over, they're very excited about
the big event -- then he remarked that I certainly would not need the scope
but binos might be nice.

I give up.

Besides -- I'll be out of town 23 - 31 August -- let him deal with it.

we live in The Age of Dissinformation on multiple levels.
The media calls it the Information Age!



"Joe S." wrote:

2-3 nights a week I haul my scope out from its hiding place and check out
the light- and haze-polluted sky around my apartment complex. Not much to
see -- only the brightest objects show up -- for example, in Lyra, the only
naked-eye stars are Vega and Beta and Gamma Lyra. Occasionally a neighbor
wanders over to see what's up.

In the past two weeks, I have been asked by three people about the coming 27
August appearance of Mars when it will be as big as the Moon. I patiently
explain to them the facts of the matter and all three of them have been glad
to hear the facts.

Another one popped up today -- he heard the Mars story "on the news" and he
basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about, he's planning to
stay up all night, has invited some friends over, they're very excited about
the big event -- then he remarked that I certainly would not need the scope
but binos might be nice.

I give up.

Besides -- I'll be out of town 23 - 31 August -- let him deal with it.

"Joe S." wrote in message
...

Another one popped up today -- he heard the Mars story "on the news" and
he basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about, he's planning
to stay up all night, has invited some friends over, they're very excited
about the big event -- then he remarked that I certainly would not need
the scope but binos might be nice.

Easiest thing is to direct them to snopes.com and search on "Mars."

Joe S.:
...Another one popped up today -- he heard the Mars story "on the news" and he
basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about, he's planning to
stay up all night, has invited some friends over, they're very excited about
the big event -- then he remarked that I certainly would not need the scope
but binos might be nice.

I give up.

The best I have come up with is to tell people to google "mars" /and/
"hoax."

I'm surprised that people are still taken in by this one, even if they
don't know anything about astronomy. It has been coming around every
year for five years now. How many times does the same story have to be
proven false before John Q stops believing it?

Davoud

America: One nation, under educated.

--
usenet *at* davidillig dawt com

On Aug 16, 9:35 pm, "Joe S." wrote:
2-3 nights a week I haul my scope out from its hiding place and check out
the light- and haze-polluted sky around my apartment complex. Not much to
see -- only the brightest objects show up -- for example, in Lyra, the only
naked-eye stars are Vega and Beta and Gamma Lyra. Occasionally a neighbor
wanders over to see what's up.

In the past two weeks, I have been asked by three people about the coming 27
August appearance of Mars when it will be as big as the Moon. I patiently
explain to them the facts of the matter and all three of them have been glad
to hear the facts.

Another one popped up today -- he heard the Mars story "on the news" and he
basically told me I didn't know what I was talking about, he's planning to
stay up all night, has invited some friends over, they're very excited about
the big event -- then he remarked that I certainly would not need the scope
but binos might be nice.

I give up.

Besides -- I'll be out of town 23 - 31 August -- let him deal with it.

There's no reason to "give up". This recurring Mars story is just an
occasion for you to educate the public about Mars and astronomy and
turn 'em on to same. Fill 'em in on the truth, and end it with an
invitation to look at Mars through a telescope at opposition.

Yes, it's coming back year after year (the story it is), even on the
years where there's no Mars opposition. I went so far as to prepare a
PowerPoint on the subject to show to my university astronomy students.

Unk Rod

On Aug 18, 1:21 am, RMOLLISE wrote:
On Aug 16, 9:35 pm, "Joe S." wrote:


snip


I give up.

Besides -- I'll be out of town 23 - 31 August -- let him deal with it.

There's no reason to "give up". This recurring Mars story is just an
occasion for you to educate the public about Mars and astronomy and
turn 'em on to same. Fill 'em in on the truth, and end it with an
invitation to look at Mars through a telescope at opposition.

Yes, it's coming back year after year (the story it is), even on the
years where there's no Mars opposition. I went so far as to prepare a
PowerPoint on the subject to show to my university astronomy students.

Unk Rod

Well we do get a real event namely a lunar eclipse on the early hours
of the 28th. Not so good for the Eastern US by the look of things but
the West Coast see the whole show weather permitting. I wonder if
Joe's friend happens the see the Moon in the Earth's shadow and thinks
he's looking at Mars LOL.

Klazmon.

On Aug 17, 7:40 am, Llanzlan Klazmon wrote:
On Aug 18, 1:21 am, RMOLLISE wrote: On Aug 16, 9:35 pm, "Joe S." wrote:

snip



I give up.

Besides -- I'll be out of town 23 - 31 August -- let him deal with it.

There's no reason to "give up". This recurring Mars story is just an
occasion for you to educate the public about Mars and astronomy and
turn 'em on to same. Fill 'em in on the truth, and end it with an
invitation to look at Mars through a telescope at opposition.

Yes, it's coming back year after year (the story it is), even on the
years where there's no Mars opposition. I went so far as to prepare a
PowerPoint on the subject to show to my university astronomy students.

Unk Rod

Well we do get a real event namely a lunar eclipse on the early hours
of the 28th. Not so good for the Eastern US by the look of things but
the West Coast see the whole show weather permitting. I wonder if
Joe's friend happens the see the Moon in the Earth's shadow and thinks
he's looking at Mars LOL.

Klazmon.

Well, it might be red enough...

On 2007-08-17, Bill Hudson wrote:
On Aug 17, 7:40 am, Llanzlan Klazmon wrote:

Well we do get a real event namely a lunar eclipse on the early hours
of the 28th. Not so good for the Eastern US by the look of things but
the West Coast see the whole show weather permitting. I wonder if
Joe's friend happens the see the Moon in the Earth's shadow and thinks
he's looking at Mars LOL.

Well, it might be red enough...

I pointed out Mars naked-eye a few nights ago to a friend. The
response I got was "Don't be silly, that can't be Mars, Mars is
red." I asked her to compare the colour to the nearby stars and
she did acknowledge that it had a noticeable pinkish tinge but
since it wasn't a deep red colour she simply wasn't having it.

I tried to explain the behaviour of the human eye with regards
colour in low light but even now I don't think she believes me.

--
Andrew Smallshaw

In sci.astro.amateur message , Thu, 16
Aug 2007 22:35:55, Joe S. posted:

In the past two weeks, I have been asked by three people about the coming 27
August appearance of Mars when it will be as big as the Moon. I patiently
explain to them the facts of the matter and all three of them have been glad
to hear the facts.

ISTM that simulating the effect is not far beyond the realm of present
practicability. In ISS orbit, it requires one mile radius to match the
angular size of the Moon; and if that could be deployed as flexible
plastic 0.1 micron thick, it would weigh only about a tonne. Think
solar-sail.

So to lob something approaching that visual size requires something not
much better than a V-2; and orbiting it requires a Falcon-1 class
launcher.

--
(c) John Stockton, Surrey, UK. Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms & links;
Astro stuff via astron-1.htm, gravity0.htm ; quotings.htm, pascal.htm, etc.
No Encoding. Quotes before replies. Snip well. Write clearly. Don't Mail News.