It sounds too good to be true: an email making the rounds claims we’ll be able to see “two moons” on Aug. 27. The email says: “Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles off earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons.”
Much to the dismay of amateur astronomers, the email is untrue. As online scam watchdog Snopes.com reports, the widely circulated email is another example of information that was once true but is sorely outdated.
In 2003, Mars was indeed unusually close to Earth. On Aug. 27, 2003, the Red Planet came within 35 million miles of us, the closest proximity to Earth in the past 60,000 years. It appeared 85 times brighter in the sky than it normally does.
A NASA press release from 2005 says “Mars is already conspicuous in the early morning. Before the sun comes up, it’s the brightest object in the eastern sky.”
This email hoax will likely circulate widely once again next August.
