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A Web-based hoax claiming that Mars will appear as large as the full moon when it rises Aug. 27 has resurfaced. The hoax is being distributed via e-mail under the subject line, "Mars Spectacular."
The hoax e-mail first appeared in mailboxes worldwide several years ago, although the origin of the bogus information has not been determined. The hoax claims that Mars will pass closer to the Earth than it has in 60,000 years, providing a clear view of a Mars that appears as a full moon.
The bogus e-mails are often accompanied by images of the planet that depict its unusually large dimensions in the sky.
The hoax does have some basis in truth. On Aug. 27, 2003, Mars did pass unusually close to the Earth, when it came within 34.6 million miles. But that was only close enough to make Mars appear as a red dot in the night sky.
"The proximity of Mars to Earth in 2003, while indeed closer than in the past 60,000 years, was nonetheless no more meaningful than me swimming a hundred yards out from the California coast (instead of my usual seventy yards) and then declaring to the world, 'I have never been this close to China before,'" said Neil deGrasse Tyson, noted astrophysicist and research associate at Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History.
