Will Mars be as big as the full moon on Aug. 27?
Short answer: No. This is an e-mail hoax that has circulated every summer since 2003. On Aug. 27, 2003, the Red Planet came within 35 million miles of the Earth, its cloest approach in hundreds of years. At that time, it appeared about six times larger than it normally does. (But not “as large as the full moon” — because of a glitch in the original message, it didn’t make clear that Mars would appear that big … if you were using a 75-power telescope or binoculars.) Lots of people turned out for a look. The Cape Fear Astronomical Society set up a big public viewing down at Fort Fisher with telescopes. (You can’t do that any more. Because of incidents of vandalism — NOT connected to the amateur astronomers – the staff of the state historic site down there had to ban such after-hours events.) Trouble is, nothing ever really gets erased on the Internet, so people read somthing online and don’t realize that the Aug. 27 being talked about was back in 2003. The fact is, Mars and Earth come re
