I get questions about Mars every summer, and they are always related to this same silly chain email. So this year, I felt that being proactive by placing a story on WUWT might help a bit. I had to chuckle though, because the “It spreads, it mutates, it refuses to die.” phrase reminds me of the hockey stick “warmest in 1000 years” meme. – Anthony
From Science @ NASA: The Mutating Mars Hoax
It spreads, it mutates, it refuses to die.
For the seventh year in a row, the Mars Hoax is infecting email boxes around the world. Passed from one reader to another, the message states that on August 27th Mars will approach Earth and swell to the size of a full Moon. “NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN,” the email declares–always in caps.
News flash: It’s not true.
Here are the facts. On August 27, 2010, Mars will be 314 million km from Earth, about as far away as it can get. Mars will shine in the western sky after sunset like a tiny red star of ordinary brightness. If you didn’t know it was there, you probably wouldn’t notice.
The origins of the Hoax can be traced back to 2003 when Mars really did swell to unusual proportions. On August 27th of that year, Mars came within 56 million km of Earth—the nearest it has been in 60,000 years. People marveled at the orange brilliance of Mars in the night sky and crowded around telescopes for clear views of the planet’s towering volcanoes, ruddy plains and glistening polar ice caps. At the height of the display, Mars was about 75 times smaller than the full Moon.
That’s when “the virus” was born.
Someone, somewhere, reasoned as follows: If Mars is 75 times smaller than the Moon, then magnifying it 75 times should make it equal to the Moon. Early versions of the Hoax encouraged readers to get out their telescopes and insert a 75x eyepiece: “At a modest 75 times magnification,” the message stated, “Mars will look as big as the full Moon to the naked eye.”
Soon, the Hoax was vectoring around the internet, making copies of itself and mutating. Advanced versions of the virus, sleeker and less wordy than its ancestors, omitted the magnification and simply stated, “Mars will look as big as the full Moon to the naked eye!” Before long, the year was omitted, too. August 27, 2003, became August 27, and the Hoax became immortal. Indeed, years of stories contradicting the Hoax have failed to stamp it out. This is the fourth vaccination by Science@NASA alone.
Tolerant readers point out that the Mars Hoax is not really a hoax, because it is not an intentional trick. The original composer probably believed everything he or she wrote in the message. If so, even the name of the Mars Hoax is wrong!
Here’s what you should do on August 27th. Go outside at sunset and face west. The bright light you see shining through the twilight is lovely Venus. Grab a pair of binoculars and scan the sky around Venus. A few degrees to the right, you’ll come across a little orange star-like object. That is Mars.
Now go back inside and delete that email.
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Thanks for that, Anthony 😉
I’m sure the spirit of the late Jack Horkheimer is smiling down upon this post of yours from some where up there among the stars. Please tell us about the night sky more often!
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/08/21/jack-horkheimer-1938-2010/
Love the NRDC ad at the bottom … when your opponents are funding you, you must be doing something right …
People will believe any damn thing if it’s said forcefully and with sincerity. “Change we can believe in” for example.
I’ve gotten that e-mail from otherwise intelligent relatives. I want to slap them up side the head and say “think about it! do you have any idea what that would look like???”
Beam Me Up Scotty?
Three cheers for WUWT.
I’ve even heard this on drive-time radio… three years running! After a while, you kind of suspect that it can’t be “never again in your lifetime” every year.
Hmmm… “It’s unprecedented!”… every year. ;o)
And don’t send that greeting card to Craig Shergold. He’s 30 years old now.
I suppose we could try to get all the science blogs to carry this, but the people who need a dope slap the most don’t read science blogs. I’ll go try that new facebook button.
Aug 27th – In a couple of years we’ll be saying “Happy mock-Mars day” and looking at the new cards from Hallmark
Well it makes as much sense as the origin of lots of other “special” days
I have no idea what this post is about, I have never heard of this before.
Since I have an Android 2.1 phone with Google Sky Map on it, I don’t have to care.
And I don’t.
Yes but are the Martian ice caps still melting away?
I saw the illogical conclusion to the thread played out on the Failbook site, where one of the people in a thread featured discussing the hoax as real panicked because she believed Mars was going to run into the Earth. Hilarious.
Anthony: Many thanks for helping to put this little bit of un-scientific nonsense to bed. However, one comment. Please don’t propagate the “times less” or “times smaller” substitution for what should be expressed as a fraction as in, “Mars was about 75 times smaller than the full Moon.”
Not important in the grand scheme of things, I guess, but it’s a favorite gripe of mine.
/rant.
For those who wish to silence the ignorant relations, here’s a Mars orbit app that cannot be misunderstood: http://www.windows2universe.org/mars/mars_orbit.html
I have not heard this before. Looking at Jupitor or Saturn through a 4.5″ reflector is
much more interesting.
Yep, got that one too! Didn’t believe it for one minute either. As already said, some people will believe anything, like Man-made Global Warming, for instance! For starters, if this was such a real event, they would be clamouring about it for years on BBCs Sky at Night years in advance milking it for everything they can get out of it.
But… What about the earthly horrors of Dihydrogen Monoxide?
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
“What are some of the dangers associated with DHMO?
Each year, Dihydrogen Monoxide is a known causative component in many thousands of deaths and is a major contributor to millions upon millions of dollars in damage to property and the environment. Some of the known perils of Dihydrogen Monoxide are:
* Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.
* Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.
* Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects.
* DHMO is a major component of acid rain.
* Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.
* Contributes to soil erosion.
* Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.
* Contamination of electrical systems often causes short-circuits.
* Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.
* Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.
* Given to vicious dogs involved in recent deadly attacks.
* Often associated with killer cyclones in the U.S. Midwest and elsewhere, and in hurricanes including deadly storms in Florida, New Orleans and other areas of the southeastern U.S.
* Thermal variations in DHMO are a suspected contributor to the El Nino weather effect.”
Never got that email either. Fortunately I know that people suck, so I don’t get a lot of stupid email. 😉
Just used the Facebook share link. Worked perfectly.
I could believe it, but it’s going to take evidence, not secret science and “trust me”.
Anthony,
You made a good call but a month late. This one came to us about a month ago and I found a rebuttal and had my wife send it back to her correspondent. We get some sort of hoax every month. One was about our Pres. and a correctional facility and another was of a moose trained to be harnessed and pull logs. On another WUWT thread yesterday some were instructing others to learn to use Google. There’s a useful idea. Another is ‘learn to be skeptical’.
H.R. says: “I’ve even heard this on drive-time radio… three years running…”
You left out the ‘L’ in drivel.
Drat. This probably means the Gen-u-wine Martian 75x Naked Eye Enhancer I scored on eBay was a waste of $2.99, huh?
There’s been so much dust in the air over here lately, you can look at the *sun* without eye protection. On the plus side, it looks just as orange as Mars…
This is funny because yesterday I was telling my friend that I had seen Jupiter and he kept trying to correct me and say it was Mars. After a few times, I realised what was going on. Someone who had got that e-mail had told him about Mars being close.
Bruce Foutch says:
August 25, 2010 at 6:58 am
But… What about the earthly horrors of Dihydrogen Monoxide?
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html
Cool! Heh! Be careful with DHMO… 🙂
Someone had already tried to pass this hoax by me, what nonsense! We are developing a world where everyone depends on authority, they won’t think for themselves.
People that fall for such nonsense (and then pass it on) will not be deterred by mundane considerations such as facts and reality. Look at climate change.