Louisville, KY (WHAS11) — Here we go again! Around this time last year, we were bombarded with the photo of two moons in the sky and a social media post claiming that Mars would appear in the sky and be "as big as the Moon."
Well, we hate to break it to you, but it is still a hoax.
According to NASA, the origins of the hoax can be traced all the way back to 2003 when Mars really did appear larger in the night sky. On August 27 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."
What started some of the confusion online was, according to Snopes.com, a modified version of the email message had an unfortunate line break, which then led to some readers interpreting it as Mars would "look as large as the full moon to the naked eye" without realizing that statement only applied to those viewing Mars through a telescope with 75-power magnification.
Back in 2010, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum said this:
The email in question is commonly referred to as the "Mars Hoax" or, more accurately, the "Mars Spectacular," and is titled: "Two moons on 27 August or The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!"
So, if you get this in your email DELETE IT! If you see this in your social media feeds, please let the people know that it is a hoax, and enjoy the rest of your day not wondering if Mars will "appear larger than the moon."
