Planet Mars in August 2010

Mars has always been an enigma for Earthlings since ages. Attack of the Martians is probably the most popular science fiction theme ever. Any news about the fourth rock from Sun is big news. Lately, there has been an email circulating about Mars visibility in August 2010, stating that it will appear to be as large as the full moon. This is absolutely wrong information as Mars can never appear that big ever to the naked eyes on Earth. I'll try to explain the origin of the misunderstanding that has led to such gross misinformation being circulated.

Origin of the Hoax

It is not the first time that emails titled - 'Mars in August - Don't Miss it', 'Mars in August 27' or 'Mars in August - Size of Moon' have done the rounds. These emails originated prior to August 2003, when there was actually a semblance of truth in the mail. It is true that Earth and Mars came very close on August 27, 2003, with only a distance of 55.76 millions kms between them and Mars appeared exceptionally brighter than most other stars in the nighttime sky. In fact this was the time when Mars came closest to Earth in 60,000 years.

It was then that the mail was first circulated. Origin of the misunderstanding lies in the fact that it stated that 'Mars would appear as bright as the full moon through a telescope of appropriate magnification'. This means that Mars would appear as large as the moon, if magnified by a telescope.

People read carelessly and made their interpretations. Some people who tend to like making irrational conclusions from half knowledge, took this differently and assumed that Mars will appear as large as the full moon to the naked eye! Through telescopes, things appear larger than they actually are and that is all that there is to it. Don't fall for this hoax.

Although it was closest to Earth on August 27, 2003, Mars is not at all coming as close to Earth in August 2010. It came closest to Earth on January 27, 2010, during what is called by astronomers as 'Opposition'.

The Facts

Now that I have cleared out the origin of the hoax, let me provide you with some real Mars facts, related to its distance of closest approach to Earth. The event where the planets come closest during their individual sojourns around the Sun, is called opposition. It is termed as opposition as Sun and Mars are exactly opposite to each other and aligned in a straight line, with Earth passing in between. Both planets revolve in an elliptic orbit around the Sun and Martian orbit being just outside the Earth's orbit, they come close together, only once in a while. Earth happens to pass between Sun and Mars after every two years and two months and that is when the distance of closest approach appears to be. This distance varies as both planetary orbits are highly eccentric and only once in many years do they come together as close, as in 2003.

In August 2010, Mars is not going to be closest to Earth and its brightness is in fact going to go on fainting. Here are the future predicted timings of Mars's closest approach to Earth, when it will appear brighter than normal:

Date of Closest Approach	Earth - Mars Distance in Million Kms
March 5, 2012	100.78
April 14, 2014	92.39
May 30, 2016	75.28
July 31, 2018	57.59

In fact the next closest Mars approach to Earth is expected to occur on August 15, 2050, when it will be only 55.96 million kilometers away from us. There are many more interesting facts about Mars that have come to light, after our rovers have actually landed on its soil. In the future, there will be a manned mission to Mars and perhaps even a permanent station will be built there! Such missions will be launched to take advantage of the time when Mars comes closest to Earth.