Mars, Earth - Closest Approach in Recorded History

"Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August. It will look as a large full moon to the naked eye. This will culminate on Aug. 27, when mars come within 34.65M miles of Earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27, 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons. The next time mars come this close is in the year 2287. Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again" I've been receiving this email from several parties during the past couple of weeks, unfortunately this email is misleading and nothing but a hoax, someone apparently resurrected an email message the circulated around July/August 2003, when Mars and Earth were the closest they have been in 60,000 years. Mars was indeed a spectacular sight in the night sky Fact is that Mars will pass close to earth once again in 2005, however it'll be at it's closest on October 31st rather than August 27th, and even then it will be 9 million miles further than it was in 2003 (34 Million Miles in 2003). That won't make much of a difference for the casual observer, Mars will still be a compelling sight at night. Claiming that "No one alive will ever see it again" is a little misleading; there will several other close encounters. Mars won't be as close as it was to earth in 2003 till 2287, perhaps our descendents will be observing the close encounter from a Martian Perspective Based On: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/18jun_approachingmars.htm For some Martian Fun check: CBS Late Night Show