{"id":1341,"date":"2014-12-10T19:56:31","date_gmt":"2014-12-10T19:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.austrinus.com\/?p=1341"},"modified":"2022-11-22T18:58:45","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T21:58:45","slug":"marte-tamano-luna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/marte-tamano-luna\/","title":{"rendered":"Mars the size of the Moon?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00abMars will appear the size of the Moon\u2026\u00bb
\n<\/strong>
\n\"\"According to the information I know, 2003 was the first time that an email began to circulate on the Internet, with a PowerPoint presentation warning about a truly spectacular approach to Mars. Too spectacular. Some information provided in that presentation was correct, but others were totally false. The problem would have ended there, but this email circulated again in 2005 and again in 2006; Because the original powerpoint alluded to an event in 2003, and in the following years the only thing that was changed was the year, it can now be properly said that all the content of the powerpoint (which you can download\u00a0here<\/a>) it's false. Let's look at the facts:<\/p>\n

Pseudoscience says...<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Mars is about to make a spectacular appearance. Earth will reach Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets that history has ever recorded; The next time Mars reaches a similar proximity will be in 2,287. Mars will be, after the Moon, the brightest object in the night skies... to the naked eye, Mars will look the size of the Moon! Share this information with your children and grandchildren, BECAUSE NO LIVING BEING TODAY WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THIS PHENOMENON AGAIN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Science says...<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, an initial clarification: approaches do exist, although their formal name is opposition<\/strong>. This is the name given to a moment when two stars are at points in the sky diametrically opposite to the Earth. One of these stars is the Sun, and the other can only be an external planet or the Moon; At that time, the star in opposition to the Sun is visible throughout the night and reaches its maximum apparent diameter in the sky, making it an excellent opportunity to observe them. If the opposition occurs during the star's perihelion (moment of closest proximity to the Sun), the observation will be very favorable; If it occurs during the star's aphelion (moment of greatest distance from the Sun), the observation will be very unfavorable.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"
Credit: in-the-sky.org<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Specifically, in the case of Mars, oppositions occur every 26 months (2 years and 2 months) and occur when the Earth "catches up" with the red planet in its orbit, the moment when both bodies are at their closest. When this occurs, Mars increases its luminosity in the sky, potentially surpassing Sirius and Jupiter, favouring telescope observations; furthermore, this event is used in space missions to the red planet, since being closer, the travel time of a probe is shorter, with a consequent saving of energy. As can be seen in the image on the side, the most favourable oppositions occur between August and September (during the perihelion) and the most unfavourable ones occur between February and March (during the aphelion).<\/p>\n

Let's review the opposition of Mars in 2003. This was a very favorable perihelic opposition (closest distance from the planet in 60,000 years), which many hobbyists took advantage of observing. The powerpoint alludes to several facts regarding this approach, therefore, below I make a parallel between the real events of the 2003 opposition, and the data provided by the powerpoint.<\/p>\n

Mars in August 2003<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Characteristics<\/strong><\/td>\nReal data<\/strong><\/td>\nPowerpoint Data<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Maximum approach:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\nAugust 27th<\/span><\/td>\nAugust 27th<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Closest proximity from:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n60,000 years ago<\/span><\/td>\n5,000 years ago<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Next similar approach:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\nYear 2,287<\/span><\/td>\nYear 2,287\/60,000 years from now (contradiction)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cause of approach:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\nEarth \u201ccatches up\u201d to Mars in its orbit<\/span><\/td>\nJupiter's gravity affects and disorients Mars orbit<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Distance from Mars:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n55,762,696 km<\/span><\/td>\n55,762,696 km<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00abRanking\u00bb of luminosity:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n4th brightest star<\/span><\/td>\n2nd brightest star<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apparent magnitude:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n-2.9<\/span><\/td>\n-2.9<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apparent size:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n25.11 arc seconds<\/span><\/td>\n25.11 arc seconds<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Exit:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n22:25 UT (18:25 Chile time)<\/span><\/td>\n\u00abWith the fall of night\u00bb<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Culmination:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n04:54 UT (12:54 Chile time)<\/span><\/td>\n12:30 am<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

To briefly refer to the erroneous points of the powerpoint, I can only say that there were a series of confusions, where the most notable is the cause of the approaches occurring (which has nothing to do with the gravity of Jupiter). If you want to corroborate the real data I mention, you can do so with any astronomy software available on the Internet, many of them free (I have a list of them in my Software section).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What happened in 2004, 2005 and 2006? What will happen next...?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the beginning I said that the approaches of Mars occur every 26 months (2 years and 2 months), with periods of more favorable approaches (towards perihelion) and more unfavorable (towards aphelion). Thus, the next Martian opposition occurred in October 2005, so there is not much to say about 2004: Mars did not approach Earth; On the other hand, all oppositions have different characteristics and the one in 2005 was not the same as the one in 2003: the date, departure and completion time, distance, magnitude, etc. varied. The opposition of 2005 was less spectacular, since Mars has already reached its maximum proximity (2003) and from there there will be several less favorable oppositions, until reaching the least favorable one when it is in aphelion and the cycle is repeated. Therefore, compared to 2005: Mars approached Earth, but much less than in 2003.<\/p>\n

\"\"I mentioned 2004 and 2005 because, unfortunately, the fake PowerPoint did not stop with the opposition of 2003: it resumed its circulation in 2004, 2005, 2006 and then it has continued to circulate and misinform, just by changing the year. This is why I want to stop at the year 2006; Although this year Mars did not approach Earth, I want to show a second parallel regarding how Mars looked in 2006 and how it supposedly will look according to the powerpoint. The objective is to show that now all the data are very wrong (since in addition to being very far away, in August 2006 Mars was impossible to see due to being blocked by the Sun), and will continue to be so in the following oppositions:<\/p>\n

Mars in August 2006<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Characteristics<\/strong><\/td>\nReal data<\/strong><\/td>\nPowerpoint Data<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Maximum approach:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\nThere was no approach<\/span><\/td>\nAugust 27th<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Closest proximity from:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\nThere was no closeness<\/span><\/td>\n5,000 years ago<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Next similar approach:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\nThere was no approach<\/span><\/td>\nYear 2,287\/60,000 years from now (contradiction)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cause of approach:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\nThe Earth is practically on the opposite side of Mars in relation to the Sun(!)<\/span><\/td>\nJupiter's gravity affects and disorients Mars orbit<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Distance from Mars:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n386,100,000 km (as of August 27)<\/span><\/td>\n55,762,696 km<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00abRanking\u00bb of luminosity:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n6th brightest star (as of August 27)<\/span><\/td>\n2nd brightest star<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apparent magnitude:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n-1.8 (as of August 27)<\/span><\/td>\n-2.9<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apparent size:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n3.6 arcseconds (as of August 27)<\/span><\/td>\n25.11 arc seconds<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Exit:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n11:59 UT (07:59 Chile time)<\/span><\/td>\n\u00abWith the fall of night\u00bb<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Culmination:<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n17:55 UT (13:55 Chile time)<\/span><\/td>\n12:30 am<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

As you can see, in 2006 (and every year without Martian opposition), the differences are more drastic. I repeat that the approaches have no relation to Jupiter's gravity, which does not alter or distort the Martian orbit; they occur when the Earth "reaches" Mars.\u00a0slide 4<\/em><\/strong>, mentions: "at a modest magnification of 75"; this phrase does not really mean anything, but I assume it was meant to say that Mars could be seen with telescopes as small as 75 mm in diameter, which is true, but it is a very vague piece of information for someone unfamiliar with it and tends to be confusing. And the\u00a0slide 6<\/em><\/strong>, mentions: "it will reach its azimuth around 3 am"; this phrase is also difficult to understand due to a conceptual error: azimuth is the angle above the horizon formed by a cardinal point and the vertical projection of the star on the horizon; what was meant in the powerpoint was culmination, which is the highest point that a star can reach above the horizon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mars the size of the Moon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"I chose to leave the most scandalous error in the powerpoint for last. Distances in astronomy are very large and except for the Sun and the Moon (one is very large, and the other is very close), we only see almost all other stars as bright points with the naked eye. At no approach could Mars be so close to Earth as to be the size of a full Moon; the closest proximity (during perihelion) is ~55 million kilometers; at that distance, the largest we can see the red planet (as occurred in the 2003 opposition) will be with an apparent size of\u00a025 seconds of arc<\/strong>, in contrast to the\u00a014 seconds of arc<\/strong>\u00a0usual that he presents when he is not in opposition.<\/p>\n

The full Moon, on the other hand, occupies\u00a031 minutes of arc<\/strong>, forks\u00a0132 times<\/strong>\u00a0larger than Mars under normal conditions; during a Martian opposition the Moon is\u00a072 times<\/strong>\u00a0larger, so the difference is practically negligible. All this considering that the Moon has a diameter of 3,475 km, and Mars has 6,794 km.<\/p>\n

What if it really happens?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally, for those who still have the illusion of seeing Mars so big with the naked eye, I tell you: if Mars really looked the size of the full Moon, it would mean that it left its orbit, it would be only 700,000 km away, and it would fall on us! ????<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00abMars will appear the size of the Moon\u2026\u00bb According to the background information I know, 2003 was the first time that an email began to circulate on the Internet, with a PowerPoint presentation warning of a truly spectacular approach by Mars. Too spectacular. Some information in that presentation was correct, but others were completely false.\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-desmitificacion"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-300x200.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-768x512.jpg","large":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-1024x683.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-1536x1024.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-2048x1365.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"Farid","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57e8aa07b0d16e13c8408ea413c009fc7da05f4cbb36da0d568b4235b1eaee6b?s=96&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":false,"magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"\u00abMarte se ver\u00e1 del tama\u00f1o de la Luna…\u00bb Seg\u00fan los antecedentes que conozco, el a\u00f1o 2003 fue la primera vez que empez\u00f3 a circular un correo electr\u00f3nico en Internet, con una presentaci\u00f3n powerpoint advirtiendo sobre un acercamiento de Marte realmente espectacular. Demasiado espectacular. Algunas informaciones vertidas en esa presentaci\u00f3n eran correctas, pero otras totalmente falsas.…","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Desmitificaci\u00f3n"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":2367,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":9,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon.jpg",2142,1428,false],"medium":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-150x150.jpg",150,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"Farid","author_link":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/author\/farid\/"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/57e8aa07b0d16e13c8408ea413c009fc7da05f4cbb36da0d568b4235b1eaee6b?s=96&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"Desmitificaci\u00f3n<\/a>","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon.jpg",2142,1428,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/austrinus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/marsmoon-debunk-icon.jpg",18,12,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Farid","author_link":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/author\/farid\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"\u00abMarte se ver\u00e1 del tama\u00f1o de la Luna…\u00bb Seg\u00fan los antecedentes que conozco, el a\u00f1o 2003 fue la primera vez que empez\u00f3 a circular un correo electr\u00f3nico en Internet, con una presentaci\u00f3n powerpoint advirtiendo sobre un acercamiento de Marte realmente espectacular. Demasiado espectacular. Algunas informaciones vertidas en esa presentaci\u00f3n eran correctas, pero otras totalmente falsas.…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1341"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6879,"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341\/revisions\/6879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austrinus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}