[Grovenet] Just in case anyone is taken in this time!

[Jim Katen]

So Ed, are you saying that this picture might have been doctored? 

- Jim Katen

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Ed Davie
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 3:09 PM
To: Grovenet, F.G.
Subject: [Grovenet] Just in case anyone is taken in this time!

The August Mars Hoax Is Back

NO WAY. This is a screen shot from a version of 
the August Mars chain letter we've received, 
pictures and all. Some versions of the letter 
mention that the Mars view has to be magnified 75 
times to look like this, but even that hasn't been 
true since August 2003. For the real comparison, 
see below.
S&T: Alan MacRobertThe annual August Mars Hoax is 
back yet again.

Actually, "hoax" is the wrong word, unless some 
joker is now spreading it knowingly (quite 
possible). It's an e-mail chain letter claiming 
that Mars is about to come closer than ever in 
history and will look as big and bright as the 
full Moon with the naked eye. If your well-meaning 
great-aunt or your cousin's brother-in-law's dog 
hasn't sent it to you yet, it's probably just a 
matter of time.

What's going on is this. Back in 2003 (that's 2003 
with a 3), Mars had an especially favorable 
opposition, coming close enough to Earth to appear 
25 arcseconds wide. That's still pretty tiny even 
in a telescope - smaller, for instance, than 
Jupiter always appears.


THE REAL STORY. Even when Mars is closest and 
brightest at opposition, it looks like an orangish 
star, nowhere near as big and bright as the full 
Moon.
S&T: Rick FienbergBack then, someone somewhere 
pointed out that at a magnification of 75× in a 
telescope, Mars would appear as big in the 
eyepiece (½° wide) as the Moon does unmagnified. 
True enough. But two things happened, as often do 
with chain letters. First, it got rewritten bit by 
bit to improve the story as people passed it 
around, so that the "75×" was downplayed or, in 
some versions, even left out. Second, the chain 
letter kept going and going long after August 2003 
receded into the mists of history.

In 2009, for instance, there is no opposition of 
Mars!. Its next opposition will come on January 
29, 2010, and even that will be a poor one, with 
Mars appearing no larger than 14 arcseconds wide.

Every year I give news media, when they phone Sky 
& Telescope, the following quote:

"The Mars chain letter is not a bad thing, it's a 
good thing. It's an immunization. If you make a 
stupid fool of yourself to your family and friends 
by sending it to them, you may be embarrassed 
enough not to send them the next e-mail chain 
letter you get, which may not be so harmless."

P. S.: The first place to check for facts about 
any internet rumor, hoax, or urban legend is 
www.snopes.com. Bookmark it.



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