[Vision2020] RE: Mars, red planet of war etc. - Meteorites on August 12-13, too

[Warren Hoskins]

My cousin sent me the following:Watch the sky—Mars in August!Never again in your (or my) lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular. This month and next Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years.
The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.--------So I had to point out the following:For extra fun, I understand that at 4:30 a.m. on the 13th, the Perseids will be in full show--two days after the full moon, so maybe get where you are in a shadow to watch for meteorites, as the moon could still be quite bright; and then the article above is a little misleading while accurate--it is true that Mars will look as large as the full moon and that it will be the next brightest object compared to how bright the moon is, EXCEPT, as they have failed to connect the dots on this one, that is the date of the NEW MOON, when the moon may be effectively dark, and if compared then, Mars will appear to be huge and glowing. Don't know where in the sky they will be at what time, perhaps someone else can do planetary and moon alignments, tell us best time to see Mars the night of the 27th, and where the moon will be. If we aren't all clouded up, of course.  So--prepare for UFO reports!  As Mars invades our skies, I am sure we will hear about the gigantic glowing red orb in space! What innocent fun...    
Peace,Warren


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