Mars Hoax

A friend sent me a powerpoint in an email that said that on August 27  "Mars would look as large as the full moon to the naked eye"

Ok that seems exciting but not too likely so lets inhale deeply and remember and think...

In 2003 Mars did make a very close approach to Earth, well if you consider 35,000,000 miles close.  The red planet was 34,647,420 miles (55,757,930 km) from Earth in the summer of 2003. (NASA) Mars's orbit  gets close to Earth's orbit every two years or so and even closer to Earth every 15 or 17 years.   In 2003 the two planets were a lot closer than usual so astronomers used that as an excuse for a bunch of huge star parties and a lot of shameless self promotion.  Hey why not!

Like many other things, a little cutting and pasting and anyone with an email account can tell all of their friends about "the dramatic close approach that hasn't happened for 60,000 years and won't be seen again in our lifetimes"  between these two planets.

Eventually the year gets cut off  and now this email resurfaces every summer.  Of course it isn't correct anymore.  Want to know more ? (for my students the correct answer is "yes".  The rest of you are on your own.)

Here is an article posted by NASA in 2003 describing the original event and another still online in the BBC archive.

I HIGHLY recommend this animation by Randy Russell showing Mars and Earth orbits. 

Play it backwards for about a minute to see the close approach (50 million  Km is about 30 million miles) You can play it forward and see when the next close approach will be.  (Try for 2017 or 2020.)

Here is a bloggers view of the current incarnation of this message and a Google search of "Mars approach" gets many responses like this yahoo answer.

The Adler Planetarium in Chicago posted a PDF titled Mars Hoax because they get so many inquiries every summer.  A blog post from 2007 makes us realize that this email misinformation is a recurring phenomenon. 

So that's the story on Mars but don't despair  the moons of Jupiter will be a glorious sight this summer.  Tonight, May 23, 2009 Jupiter will rise about 2 AM but by August 1 Jupiter will rise a little east of South abut 8 PM and continue across the southerrn sky for most of the night.  You can easily see Jupiter's disc and four of its moons with a pair of good binoculars or a small telescope.

Sky and Telescopes posted a  Javascript utility identifying the moons that Galileo saw 400 years ago.  Writing about his observations got him in some trouble but that's another story...

be good,

Mr. Hazen

Terraforming Mars

by E.R.

Scientists at a NASA conference were discussing the possibilities of making the planet Mars a place where humans can live. Although greenhouse gases are bad for the Earth's atmosphere, on Mars, these gases could provide a pretty good place for humans to live. The average temperature on Mars is -55°C, which is extremely cold. In order for people to be able to live on Mars, scientists believe that if they bring the greenhouse gases to Mars, it could evaporate all of the carbon dioxide. This will allow the greenhouse gases to keep the planet warm enough for people to live on, but not very comfortable. Another type of gases that scientists are considering to use on Mars is perfluorocarbons, super-greenhouse gases that provide a lot of warmth, do not affect living organisms in a bad way, and last an extremely long time, which will act as a positive towards making Mars a more suitable place to live. Chlorofluorocarbons are a type of chemical that provides protection towards a planets ozone layer and against ultraviolet rays. This chemical will help build an ozone layer on Mars which will absorb the sun's solar energy and release it into the atmosphere. Scientists have calculated that it will take several centuries in order for the temperature of Mars to rise up to 6 to 8 degrees Celsius.

This article relates to what we are learning because it has to do with thermal energy and Earth and Space Science. When the gases are released onto Mars, the greenhouse gases will trap the thermal energy that radiates from the surface causing the temperature to rise. I found this article interesting because of the fact that scientists are trying to find a way so that people can actually work and live on the planet Mars. Even though it will take an enormous amount of time, and a lot of processes and plans, I believe this idea will come true due to our scientists and technological advances.

http://www.firstscience.com/home/articles/earth/terraforming-mars_1270.html

An artist's concept of a greenhouse on Mars