Mars as big as the moon from Earth!

Neilos

I was told that sometime soon you would be able to see mars as big as the moon as observed from the Earth. Apparantly it is to do with the orbits being alined and it only happens once every 60,000 years.

I'm a bit of a know-it-all with these things and of course said it was poppycock straight off the cuff. But does anyone actually know anything about this? Or can I keep mocking my friend?

I haven't heard anything about it, I haven't even bothered googling it. But I can understand that 'maybe' the orbits could line up and we could see it. Maybe even get some kind of optical enlargement effect caused by the atmosphere.

But I have commited myself to mocking him and I have no proof!

lol

Neilos

Afaceinthematrix

Yeah right. The closest point from Earth to Mars is about 54.6 million km while the average distance from Earth to the moon is about 380,000 km. So Mars, at it's closest point, is about 140 times farther.

Another thing I should add on is that Mars is only about twice the size of the moon... So it's only twice the size yet 140 times farther away? That doesn't match up...

Neilos

That's what I would assume, but i wondered if there were any special circumstances

Bikerman

It is poppycock. Mars at its closest is just barely visible.
Now, if you want to talk about remote possibilities - then yes. Sufficiently far into the future there is a possibility that planetary orbits will be perturbed and that Mars and Earth could approach - or even collide.
http://solar-system-astronomy.suite101.com/article.cfm/slight_chance_of_planetary_collision

ocalhoun

Who starts stupid rumors like this?

At least it's better than the one about how Pluto would get closer to Earth than the moon. (As part of its normal orbit Rolling Eyes

)

Afaceinthematrix

Neilos

tennisniper

Here's one for you. Heard from a friend that the end of the world in 2012, as predicted by the Mayan calander, isn't actually the end of the world. According to him, it's the end of Humanity's reign as the only intelligent species on the planet. Apparenty, when Artificial Intelligence is born during that year, we will be then one of two self-aware species on the planet, which is why the calender ends. Afterwords, a new calendar will come about, similar to after the birth of Christ. Maybe we'll end up with BC years, AD years, and AI years =)

Bikerman

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