E-mail hoax puts Mars into impossible orbit

August 19, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - The red planet named after the Roman god of war has long generated a genre of science-fiction books and Hollywood flicks putting the fear of alien invasion into the minds of movie-going generations. Now, Mars is headlining in some erroneous e-mails promising a spectacular viewing, one that won't happen again in 60,000 years.

Some Valley residents have been passing on this information in anticipation of a celestial event.

"That letter was a hoax that circulated around the Internet," said Tim Lundt, a science teacher who works as the director of the Stargate Observatory project at Burchell High School.

The biggest piece of misinformation printed in the e-mail was that Mars would appear as large as the full moon.

"Mars will never, never, never be near the size of the moon, as we view it from Earth. If it were, it would mean that Earth had moved out of its orbit toward Mars, or Mars had moved closer to us," amateur astronomer Jim Egger, of Palmer, said.

Some e-mails omitted the fact that Mars would only appear as big as the full moon if the viewer were looking through a 75-power magnification telescope, according to Snopes.com, a Web site dedicated to debunking rumors.

"Mars will have another close encounter with Earth in 2005, but that occurrence will take place in October (not August), the red planet will appear 20 percent smaller than it did during similar circumstances in 2003," according to Snopes.com.

The rare event of a close Mars passage to Earth's orbit - now spinning from e-mail address to word-of-mouth communication - actually happened Aug. 27, 2003, Lundt said.

Two years later, Earth and Mars will pass close enough for Mars to be within view on clear autumn nights in Alaska, according to Lundt.

"Mars is not going to be as big as it was two years ago," he said.

Still, even without a telescope, Mars will be a bright spot in the sky, and will appear bigger than Venus and Jupiter, he said.

The best viewing times for Alaskans - either in their back yards or using a telescope - should be from around Halloween until Nov. 7, according to Lundt.

He said the Stargate Observatory will be open Oct. 29 and Nov. 5. Weather permitting, those should be good nights to get a close-up look at the red planet.

During the close passage two years ago, both Lundt and Egger viewed the polar ice caps of Mars with their telescopes, but they don't expect any more detail than that for 2005. Again, those sightings remain weather-reliant.

"Clear days here are the lull between the storms, pretty much. The atmosphere above Alaska is always boiling. There are rare seconds where I could see details," said Egger, who built and set up a telescope at his Palmer home.

Stargazers who don't have scientific equipment should be able to spot Mars toward the end of August - that is, if they can stay up until 2 in the morning, when the darkening night allows the planet to shine, Egger said. However, compared to 2003, Mars will be rising higher in the sky - in the constellation of Aries in August.

Mars, like other planets in our solar system, rises four minutes earlier each evening. By October, the red planet will be even higher in the sky. At the same time, Alaskans will enjoy darker nights. Mars should be reddish-orange, producing more colors than stars and other planets.

"It's an obvious red light that won't blink like the stars," Egger said.

Dawn De Busk can be reached at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.