An eight-year-old claim that Mars is inching its way closer to the Earth so fast that soon it will appear as big as the moon, has made a comeback. The hoax email has been spreading like wildfire over the Internet. Read more
Mars Email a "Spectacular" Hoax An email promising a "Mars spectacular" on August 27 has astronomers seeing red, as scientists try to counter a seemingly unending Mars hoax. The anonymous message from an unknown part of the globe says that the red planet " ... will look as large as the full moon" in the night sky, and that "no one alive today will ever see this again."
Read more The planet Mars will be within 34,649,589 miles of the Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. This will not happen again for 60,000 years and has not been seen in recorded history. Source
Mars Magnitude= 1.0mag Best seen from 0.4h - 5.5h (in constellation Gemini) RA= 6h02m55s Dec=+23°32.5' (J2000) Distance=1.632AU Elongation= 63° Phase k=89% Diameter=5.7"