Andrew Yee
August 23rd 05, 04:49 PM
Sky & Telescope
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Contacts:
Alan M. MacRobert, Senior Editor
617-864-7360 x151
Richard Tresch Fienberg, Editor in Chief
617-864-7360 x144
Marcy L. McCreary, VP Marketing & Business Dev.
617-864-7360 x143
Press Release: August 23, 2005
Don't Get Snookered by Mars Malarkey
Note to Editors/Producers: This release is accompanied by several
publication-quality graphics; see details below.
If no one has asked you about it yet, they probably will. A bogus e-mail
chain letter, sometimes titled "Mars Spectacular," has been spreading
across the Internet. It claims that on August 27th the planet Mars will
dazzle the world, appearing brighter than ever in history and "as large as
the full Moon to the naked eye."
The problem is that "August 27th" is actually August 27, 2003. Mars did
make a historically close pass by Earth at that time. The Red Planet puts
on another fine show in 2005, but it will pass closest to us in October
and November this year, not August. And to the naked eye Mars will look
like a bright star, nowhere near as big or brilliant as the full Moon.
As they orbit the Sun, the Earth and Mars make a close approach every 2
1/4 years or so. This time is called "opposition," because from our
perspective on Earth, Mars then appears opposite the Sun in the sky. On
average the two planets come within 48 million miles of each other. But
because their orbits are elliptical (oval) rather than perfectly circular,
the minimum separation between the two planets varies from one opposition
to the next.
In late August 2003 Mars came within 35 million miles of Earth, but at its
best in late October and early November 2005 it will come no closer than
43 million miles. For reference, the Moon orbits the Earth at an average
distance of about 240,000 miles, and the average Earth*Sun distance is
about 93 million miles.
The notion that Mars can look as large as the full Moon is not as crazy as
it sounds. To the naked eye, the Moon appears roughly 1/2 deg across,
about the width of the tip of your little finger seen at arm's length.
Later this year Mars will reach a maximum apparent diameter of only 20
arcseconds, compared to 25 arcseconds in 2003. That's equivalent to 0.005
deg, which is much too small an angle to resolve with the unaided eye. But
if you observe Mars in a telescope at a magnification of 100x, the
planet's angular size in the eyepiece is 0.5 deg. In other words, Mars in
a telescope looks as large as the Moon to the naked eye.
Think about the level of detail you can see on the Moon just by looking
up. People see all sorts of fanciful shapes in the pattern of dark
splotches and bright areas, such as a human face or a rabbit. In a
telescope at high magnification, you can see a similar level of detail on
Mars: dark surface markings, bright clouds, and often a white polar ice
cap. Backyard stargazers the world over are already enjoying telescopic
views of these features every clear night.
That's right: You don't have to wait till October or November to see Mars.
And this week it's especially easy to find the Red Planet. Go outside a
little before midnight, and look toward the east-northeast to find the
rising Moon, now in its waning gibbous phase. On Tuesday night, August
23rd, Mars shines to the lower left of the Moon. The next night, August
24th, the planet gleams closer to the Moon's lower right. And on Thursday
the 25th, Mars is farther to the Moon's upper right. There's no chance of
misidentifying Mars. The planet is the brightest "star" in the sky, and
its distinctive ochre hue gives it away in an instant.
You can read all about this year's Mars apparition, and what to observe
for yourself, in the September 2005 issue of Sky & Telescope. The
magazine's Web site, SkyandTelescope.com, features an interactive Mars map
that enables you to identify the features you see on the Red Planet in
your telescope; see Observing > Celestial Objects > Planets. The most
recent amateur images of Mars appear online at MarsWatch 2005.
"The Mars chain letter is a good thing, not a bad thing," says Alan
MacRobert, a senior editor of Sky & Telescope. "It's an immunization. If
you make a fool of yourself by sending it to your friends and family,
you'll be less likely to send them the next e-mail chain letter you get,
which may not be so harmless."
The first place to check for facts about any Internet rumor, hoax, or
urban legend is www.snopes.com. Bookmark it!
Sky Publishing Corp. was founded in 1941 by Charles A. Federer Jr. and
Helen Spence Federer, the original editors of Sky & Telescope magazine.
The company's headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. In addition to Sky &
Telescope and SkyandTelescope.com, the company publishes Night Sky
magazine (a bimonthly for beginners with a Web site at NightSkyMag.com),
two annuals (Beautiful Universe and SkyWatch), as well as books, star
atlases, posters, prints, globes, and other fine astronomy products.
Sky & Telescope is pleased to make the following graphics available to our
colleagues in the news media
[http://skyandtelescope.com/aboutsky/pressreleases/article_1574_1.asp].
Permission is granted for one-time, nonexclusive use in print and
broadcast media, as long as appropriate credits (as noted in each caption)
are included. Web publication must include a link to SkyandTelescope.com.
Related Articles:
* Mars: Which Side Is Visible?
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_997_1.asp
* Watch the Two Brightest Planets Kiss in Twilight
http://skyandtelescope.com/aboutsky/pressreleases/article_1569_1.asp
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Contacts:
Alan M. MacRobert, Senior Editor
617-864-7360 x151
Richard Tresch Fienberg, Editor in Chief
617-864-7360 x144
Marcy L. McCreary, VP Marketing & Business Dev.
617-864-7360 x143
Press Release: August 23, 2005
Don't Get Snookered by Mars Malarkey
Note to Editors/Producers: This release is accompanied by several
publication-quality graphics; see details below.
If no one has asked you about it yet, they probably will. A bogus e-mail
chain letter, sometimes titled "Mars Spectacular," has been spreading
across the Internet. It claims that on August 27th the planet Mars will
dazzle the world, appearing brighter than ever in history and "as large as
the full Moon to the naked eye."
The problem is that "August 27th" is actually August 27, 2003. Mars did
make a historically close pass by Earth at that time. The Red Planet puts
on another fine show in 2005, but it will pass closest to us in October
and November this year, not August. And to the naked eye Mars will look
like a bright star, nowhere near as big or brilliant as the full Moon.
As they orbit the Sun, the Earth and Mars make a close approach every 2
1/4 years or so. This time is called "opposition," because from our
perspective on Earth, Mars then appears opposite the Sun in the sky. On
average the two planets come within 48 million miles of each other. But
because their orbits are elliptical (oval) rather than perfectly circular,
the minimum separation between the two planets varies from one opposition
to the next.
In late August 2003 Mars came within 35 million miles of Earth, but at its
best in late October and early November 2005 it will come no closer than
43 million miles. For reference, the Moon orbits the Earth at an average
distance of about 240,000 miles, and the average Earth*Sun distance is
about 93 million miles.
The notion that Mars can look as large as the full Moon is not as crazy as
it sounds. To the naked eye, the Moon appears roughly 1/2 deg across,
about the width of the tip of your little finger seen at arm's length.
Later this year Mars will reach a maximum apparent diameter of only 20
arcseconds, compared to 25 arcseconds in 2003. That's equivalent to 0.005
deg, which is much too small an angle to resolve with the unaided eye. But
if you observe Mars in a telescope at a magnification of 100x, the
planet's angular size in the eyepiece is 0.5 deg. In other words, Mars in
a telescope looks as large as the Moon to the naked eye.
Think about the level of detail you can see on the Moon just by looking
up. People see all sorts of fanciful shapes in the pattern of dark
splotches and bright areas, such as a human face or a rabbit. In a
telescope at high magnification, you can see a similar level of detail on
Mars: dark surface markings, bright clouds, and often a white polar ice
cap. Backyard stargazers the world over are already enjoying telescopic
views of these features every clear night.
That's right: You don't have to wait till October or November to see Mars.
And this week it's especially easy to find the Red Planet. Go outside a
little before midnight, and look toward the east-northeast to find the
rising Moon, now in its waning gibbous phase. On Tuesday night, August
23rd, Mars shines to the lower left of the Moon. The next night, August
24th, the planet gleams closer to the Moon's lower right. And on Thursday
the 25th, Mars is farther to the Moon's upper right. There's no chance of
misidentifying Mars. The planet is the brightest "star" in the sky, and
its distinctive ochre hue gives it away in an instant.
You can read all about this year's Mars apparition, and what to observe
for yourself, in the September 2005 issue of Sky & Telescope. The
magazine's Web site, SkyandTelescope.com, features an interactive Mars map
that enables you to identify the features you see on the Red Planet in
your telescope; see Observing > Celestial Objects > Planets. The most
recent amateur images of Mars appear online at MarsWatch 2005.
"The Mars chain letter is a good thing, not a bad thing," says Alan
MacRobert, a senior editor of Sky & Telescope. "It's an immunization. If
you make a fool of yourself by sending it to your friends and family,
you'll be less likely to send them the next e-mail chain letter you get,
which may not be so harmless."
The first place to check for facts about any Internet rumor, hoax, or
urban legend is www.snopes.com. Bookmark it!
Sky Publishing Corp. was founded in 1941 by Charles A. Federer Jr. and
Helen Spence Federer, the original editors of Sky & Telescope magazine.
The company's headquarters are in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. In addition to Sky &
Telescope and SkyandTelescope.com, the company publishes Night Sky
magazine (a bimonthly for beginners with a Web site at NightSkyMag.com),
two annuals (Beautiful Universe and SkyWatch), as well as books, star
atlases, posters, prints, globes, and other fine astronomy products.
Sky & Telescope is pleased to make the following graphics available to our
colleagues in the news media
[http://skyandtelescope.com/aboutsky/pressreleases/article_1574_1.asp].
Permission is granted for one-time, nonexclusive use in print and
broadcast media, as long as appropriate credits (as noted in each caption)
are included. Web publication must include a link to SkyandTelescope.com.
Related Articles:
* Mars: Which Side Is Visible?
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_997_1.asp
* Watch the Two Brightest Planets Kiss in Twilight
http://skyandtelescope.com/aboutsky/pressreleases/article_1569_1.asp