[pct-l] Fw: Might want to put this on your calendar

[go4ahike at pacifier.com (Brian Bowlsby)]

I pulled this off of the following website for anyone interested.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/a/175663.htm

Steady


June 07, 2005
ANOTHER Close Encounter with Mars?
According to a forwarded email circulating for the past month or so, the
planet Mars is due for an unprecedented close encounter with Earth this
August when a wobble in its orbit brings the two planets closer together
than they have been for thousands of years. "No one alive today will ever
see this again," says the email ? which is odd, considering that exactly the
same thing happened two years ago.

Turns out, the email is a recycled message from 2003. Even so, it's not
entirely false. Earth and Mars will pass very close to one another again in
October (not August) 2005, astronomers say, at which time their orbits will
be a mere 43 million miles apart (slightly more than the 35 million miles
separating them in 2003). It won't quite equal the once-in-a-lifetime show
of two years ago, but the enounter will be "breathtaking" nonetheless,
scientists predict, with the red planet outshining every object in the night
sky save Venus and the Moon.  More from Space Guide Nick Greene...


-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net
[mailto:pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net]On Behalf Of larry
hillberg
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 7:22 PM
To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Fw: Might want to put this on your calendar


Does anyone know if the attached is true?  If so, the
folks on our western mountain crests are due for some
mighty special nights this year.

I'll never forget one night on the PCT, a day or so
north of Hyatt Lake, sans tent and flat on my back,
watching the Perseid meteors streak overhead.

Larry H

------------------------------------------------------
The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month
and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in 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 before it
happens again.
>
The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars
comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth 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. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of
August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach
its azimuth at about 3 a.m.
>
By the end of August when the two planets are closest,
Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest
point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient
to see something that no human being has seen in
recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the
beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively
brighter and brighter throughout the month.
>
Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO
ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!
>
>




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