Whoa! Mars as big as the full moon! You’ve probably heard that before, huh? I’m sure many of you have already seen the email that says in August 2007, Mars will be as big and bright as the full moon. In fact, some versions of this email claim that Mars and Earth’s moon will appear as a “double moon” in Earth’s sky in late August 2007. True?
No way. This hoax email has been circulating every summer since 2003. This email is wrong, filled with false information and should not be passed on. There’s much more info here: Mars Hoax as well as elsewhere on the web. But let me say here that there will not be a “double moon” - consisting of our own full moon and Mars - visible in Earth’s sky in late August 2007.
Undoubtedly you have seen many other such emails and/or claims online, in newspapers and such. Some are so incredibly stupid or naive that any intelligent adult will dismiss them, but some have a grain of truth that can be enough to fool even the rocket scientists among us. So how can you know what is real?
It isn’t always easy. There is very little in the Universe that is absolutely impossible. There is a small possibility that a three-headed, purple and chartreuse alien from a planet orbiting a star in the Andromeda galaxy could suddenly materialize in front of you through quantum mechanical processes, assuming of course that such an alien as described does in fact exist. I must emphasize that it is a very, VERY, VERY small possibility, but it can’t be dismissed entirely (at least not if our current understanding of quantum probabilities is correct). My point is that unexpected, odd, even bizarre and highly unlikely events can sometimes be true. So back to the question, how can we know what is likely true and what should we not waste time with?
Although there were no viral emails running amuck 30 years ago, there were plenty of stories of aliens, astral influences, monsters and so on. Sometime in the late 1970s I wrote an article called “The Power of Positive Skepticism,” which was my attempt to provide some tools to help separate fact from fiction. Of course this is not foolproof, but it can help. I’ve revised it a bit, but here are the basic points:
1) Question the idea
Ask whether the concept or idea makes sense. If it doesn’t, then don’t waste your time on it.
a) What data or evidence is there?
b) Is the evidence thorough or selective?
c) Are there alternative explanations?
2) Question the manner in which the idea is presented
There are many ways in which an idea can be presented that can put a positive “spin” on the idea at the expense of the truth.
a) Be suspicious of arguments with many absolutes
b) Watch for appeals to emotions or ego
c) Be careful of arguments based largely on statistics
d) Cast a wary eye on arguments rife with rhetorical questions
3) Apply “Ockham’s Razor” (that is, seek the simplest workable answer)
William of Ockham essentially said that when looking for the correct option when presented with two or more, look for the one that demands the smallest number of assumptions. That is, if option 1 requires you to make one assumption (that is, assume something to be true that you do not know is true), and option 2 requires you to make two assumptions, then option one is most likely the correct option.
4) Question credentials (that is, are they real and are they relevant?)
Credentials can be a real sticky point. Just because someone has an advanced degree in something does not automatically make that person an expert, although the term “doctor” or “professor” often carries a lot of weight. Conversely, a true expert doesn’t necessarily need any degree. A Ph.D. in engineering may not know squat about medicine, but the “Dr.” in front of the name can procure an assumed and undeserved level of expertise in other areas. That said, you’re likely on much safer ground accepting the word of a person highly educated in a particular field than someone who isn’t. When it comes to matters of cosmology, I am far more likely to accept the views of my friends with PhDs in physics than of my medical doctor, whom I have known longer and frankly trust with my life. They are all highly educated, but it just stands to reason that each knows more about the field they are trained in. (Well, duh!) But could a physicist be wrong about cosmology, or a physician wrong about migrain headaches. Of course. By the same token a physicist could be wrong about the Big Bang and a physician wrong about arthritis. You have to give credit to (real) credentials, but you must think for yourself. The important point is that credibility should not rely entirely on credentials.
5) Check your own emotions and feelings (acknowledge your biases)
Anyone who says that they can be unbiased is lying to you and him- or herself. The important thing is to identify your biases and understand how they can color your view. If you want there to be UFOs, it is a lot easier to believe they exist whether there is evidence or not. Feelings can make you look for confirmation while denying evidence to the contrary (or lack of evidence in confirmation).
6) Be open minded but not gullible
I don’t know who first said it, but I like the saying: “Be open-minded, but not so open-minded that your brains fall out.” (I heard it first from Robin Williams as Mork on Mork and Mindy!). Trust logic and reason, but also keep in mind what Mr. Spock said in Star Trek VI: “Logic is the beginning of wisdom … not the end.” And perhaps from a higher authority:
Larry Sessions
Image Credit:
NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: J. Bell (Cornell U.), P. James (U. Toledo), M. Wolff (SSI), A. Lubenow (STScI), J. Neubert (MIT/Cornell)
All material copyrighted, but reviews, excerpts and links appreciated.
Isn’t Mars always bigger than the moon? Ha!
Seriously, though, thank you Larry for the positive skepticism article - I think we’d all be better off if more people took a minute to apply some of your techniques to what they hear on the “news” before they started acting on it.
2wicky
Hi, 2wicky! Thanks. I think it is great that people share things over the Internet with friends and family, especially when it could be about an event “of a lifetime.” The problem is that as Carl Sagan (and I am sure other in so many words) said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” but most people aren’t equippd to determine what is real and what is not when they are considering something they don’t have an overall knowledge of. All I hope is that people will stop and consider what they are passing on, rather than just blindly shooting it out to everyone on their list.
LS
Larry,
Can you imagine how utterly terrifying it would be to look up in the sky and see a celestial object that was as big as the moon … but not the moon?
Global culture would be running amok!
Thanks for a cool, preemptive strike at a possible Mars hoax in the summer of ‘07.
Deborah
Yeah, it would be like one of those C-grade scifi flicks of the 50s! But interestingly enough, as you already know, this is pretty much the actual scenario that may have played out in the origin of the Moon before life on Earth. At that time it gave us the Moon and some might say that it played heavily in the later development of life on our planet. But if it really happened today, it would be the end of us all!
L
That would be really awesome to see Mars that close, but unfortunately the only way to do that is through a telescope or becoming an astronaut.
Don’t forget the “Eye of God” suddenly appearing in the sky and changing peoples lives!
Even I, a very basic beginner recognized th Helix nebula.
This is the first i have heard of the mail going around again. Has anyone seen it for real recently? I wrote about this last year: http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/08/08/mars-attacks-again-again/
Hi, Phil. I haven’t actually seen it again, either. At least not yet, so we can hope that maybe it has been killed off! However, one that has been going around recently — and maybe I should have used that as an example — is the supposed crescent moon seen from the North Pole (or South Pole, depending which version you get). That is, of course, a painting of a fictional location (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060620.html).
In any event, the idea is to get people to look at the email they get, and at least try to assess whether it is real or not, before they go shooting it off to everyone they know.
Yes, I’ve gotten the dreaded Mars as big as moon email, its just still close I thought, and would be brighter then usual. My question is: is it getting brighter or anything like that? Maybe thats why everyone is saying that it will be as “bright” as the the moon and they are miscontruing that to be as big as the moon. All I know is something sweet better be happening up there in August, I was all excited :/
This hoax’s error may be in that the writer confuse the size of arc-minutes and arc-seconds. Granting that, it makes sense. The error would be in granting that.
Swillis,
There is a 60 to one difference in arc minutes versus arc seconds, and while such a mistake may seem a small one, success or failure in science as in many other things can hinge on small differences. Every semester I have to explain to students the seeming contradition that while science cannot always be precise (especially in astronomy where much of distances or example are just educated guesses), you must pay very close attention to detail. Missing a decimal point, or confusing arc seconds and arc minutes may be easy to do (I know personally), but in terms of any serious pursuit, whether that be a class paper or a major research project, it simply is not acceptable.
LS
Larry, Thanks so much for answering my question and for this link to your blog. Not a bit surprised that it’s not true…but too bad anyway; well, my “one small step” is that I did not forward it. Geri Ward
Hey, Geri! Wouldn’t it be neat if it were true? But then, it would likely mean the end of civilization as we know it — and maybe even human life on the planet — because of the destruction wrought by the gravitational disturbance of a major planet so near. On second thought, it wouldn’t be very neat. It would be a disaster!
LS
Hi,
I didn’t receive the hoax mail myself, but a friend did. I knew it couldn’t be correct, but wanted some proof to send to my friend. Thanks for sharing the info.
Yep! It’s still around!.. Such inanity.. Just received a copy..Sent link to this site back to the sender. Maybe they’ll pass it back up the line..
The letter even stated that Mars would pass within 34.52 miles of the Earth.. Hoo! Ha!! The tides would have already washed over the Tibetan Plateau, and the earth’s crust would be crumpled up, and the earthquakes!!!…. Nobody would left to forward the e-mail to….
Oops
This e-mail about Mars grew legs and wandered all over Omaha. When one of my associates read the article, she paraphrased it and added a little of her own intuitive information. So not only was the planet Mars going to be as big as the moon, it was because it was only like 56 miles away! Yikes! Close Encounter! Heck, the Martians could take an elevator to the Earth and just take over, and why not, bring back Elvis. Now it should have stopped right there with the 1st person she talked to, but no, that person re-sent the message to about 300 people. And they were all talking about how great it was going to be to see 2 moons! You’d be surprised to see how many people have absolutely no sense at all. What is really scary is that of those 300 people that got the message, only about 3 of us actually doubted the message, and the rest of them sent it to everyone on their call/email list. I think we have evidence of artificial stupidity.
Last week a friend told me to look out for the double moon. That was the first time I’d heard of it. Our family is planning a camping trip this weekend so we can catch a glimpse. One piece of advice is to use a pair of binoculars over a telescope, because having two scopes (one for each eye) allows you to see each “moon” separately. If you cover one of the lenses with your hand, you will see one, and if you switch sides you should see the other (assuming you’re pointing straight at them). Of course, we know that only one of them is our moon. The other one is really a planet.
Yes I received that email this morning. I happened to go to lunch with a dear friend who loves this kind of thing. He was really excited when I told him and went back to work, found your site on the web and let me know that it was a hoax. I have to say I am disappointed but it would have been weird at the same time to see something so out of the norm. Thank you for breaking the rumor. Luckily I did not pass the email along. But did inform the friend that sent it to me initially! Oh well, maybe one day! Ha-ha…Cheers!
Hi Larry and Deborah,
I have just received the mail:
( Two moons on 27 August
27 Aug the Whole World is waiting for..
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 to within 36.65M miles of earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug.277 12.30 am. It will look like earth has two moons. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.
Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again.)
On a small point, is there such a time as 12.30 am? Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought that at least that time should read 0.30 am?
I will inform my friends of the obvious hoax.
George
“I haven’t actually seen it again, either. At least not yet, so we can hope that maybe it has been killed off!”
MOST DEFINATLY NOT BEEN KILLED OFF!
I’M SO GUTTED TO FIND OUT IT ISN’T TRUE!
It quiets the soul to know that there will not be two moons out there in space to terrify the earthlings.
But heck, here in smoggy Southern California we would have to pack the car, take a tent, set up a solitary spot for viewing, clean up the messy lenses and then wait to behold such a wonder- even if it WAS real.
So those of you who can actually SEE stars from the backyard should rejoice.
I wonder if the galaxy image of our little planet Earth is getting dimmer because of the junk floating in our air. Perhaps the beings on Jupiter ( or Mars) worry about us and have their scopes tracking our slow but steady disappearance?
Now THAT may be fact rather than fiction.
Rita in La Mesa, Ca. USA
The first time I heard about this was a few weeks ago. Having been a huge astronomy nut in my high school days, a moment’s reflection was all I needed to figure out that this was crap. I quickly went to Wikipedia, to refresh my memory on how far the Moon is from the Earth, and to also check the Earth’s distance from the Sun compared to Mars.
A little math and some common sense will tell you that this is impossible. Mars would have to be much larger for this to be possible.
Venus is twice the size of Mars, and at its closest approach to the Earth, is about 20 million kilometers closer. So, why do we never hear about Venus appearing as big as the Moon in the night sky?
Mars and Moon, both shining equally bright !!
It will be surely a glorious night on 27th Aug 2007.
My boyfriend received the same email as George(listed above) did and when I told him I read something different on a website he didn’t believe. So I pulled up this site to prove to hime that it was all a hoax. Thanks for helping him get some sleep that night.
Well, I fell for it until I google searched to see if there was anything to verify it.
I got the email from my relative and I actually passed it on.
Well, let me say that what is NOT a hoax is that God Lives and Jesus is The Christ, the literal Son of God! In 1820, Joseph Smith prayed to know which church was right and he was actually visited by God in answer to his humble and sincere request. Not only did he see the face of God, but was introduced to Jesus Christ, God’s Beloved Son!
This first vision marked the opening of the last dispensation of the fullness of times and the beginning of many other visions and revelations culminating in the restoring the church of Jesus Christ back on the earth.
This fact can be verified, studied, and carefully considered through personal prayer. A tangible witness of this fact can be found in the existence of the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ.
To obtain more information, please visit the church’s websites www.mormon.org or www.lds.org
Thank you for reading my reply and remember this is not a hoax. The hoax is only in the fictional 2 moons theory.
Please reply to stevenrb41@yahoo.com and let me know your conversion story.
Sincerely, Steven Bringhurst
I could not see that sight in the sky of Ahmadabad last night 25th Aug 07. But today I expect to be clear night. Let the stars brighten tonight in the sky to give us a chance
to witness a spectacular astrological phenomena ! - Bapu
Thanks for posting this! I would have been one of the people to stay up until 12:30 am to watch it and would have been exhausted and pissed the next day at work! I even heard some information on the morning radio show, so I really thought that it was going to happen!
My girlfriend got this email and we were planning our night to go see this. I much dislike people who waste other people’s time, and espeically people who knowingly do it with fake or devious motives. And worst of all, i hate getting my hopes up for no reason. Although i’m a little bit ashamed why i didnt question it. I did for half a second, but i’ve come to accept anything my gf says without asking, but i dont blame her, she got the email from a friend. Anyway, very frustatingly annoying. Thanks for explaining it. So just for my own curiosity, if someone did want to see mars in the night sky without a telescope, when would be the best time, and season in the Boston Area. Thanks
i also want to thank you for putting it up. i didn’t think it was true b/c if it was you’d think it would be all over the news. to bad- that would be really neat to see. i also got this email last year- luckily i forgot about it and didn’t stay up all night!
2 moons my ass. i stayed up nothing.. lie. that person who made this all up should get a job..
ok. i accept this is not so. but my question is - how come i’m looking at the moon right now and it does indeed look like a double moon?
it is 8/28/07 @ 12:30 a.m.
amazing - its what honey? 12:30am on 28th aug 2007, this IS a true amazing thing here guys, this person is from the FUTURE - surley in this case 2 moons is possible - btw i write this at 10:11am on the 27th of august lol.
My 9 year old son’s teacher actually told their whole class to ask their parents to stay up for this one! Was sceptical, so did some net research. Has served as a really good exercise in not believing everything you’re told and checking your info. Wondering how embarassed teacher is going to be tomorrow -specially if lots of parents stay up til midnight with their kidlets. Oh well - at least she is the one trying to teach them their maths and spelling on no sleep tomorrow!
I am crushed!!!We were planning a tailgate party with friends.Now I learn
it’s all a hoax.Drats#$#@!@## you people really know how to hurt a guy.After viewing the night sky for sixty years,I was really looking forward to viewing two moons side by side.Guess I will sell my telescope.
Yuck.Yuck Jim
It would fascinate me personally if I were to speak with a person of professional character who has witnessed some so called UFO activity while searching the skies for motion.
I have listened to people I trust tell of what they DID see from some spot on planet earth. And I believe that there was something to witness.
But what about you folks who scan the deeps every night?
Surely those magic machines you rotate, in those mysterious silver mounds atop mountains capture something, now and then…
Rita La Mesa CA
oops,,,ooops
I believed it too, but that if you were looking through a telescope magnified a bit, it looked as big as the moon “to the naked eye”. Got me.
I also thought maybe that because the moon was going to be red, that that was the reasoning. My husband in formed me that I already stayed out all night in 2003 and looked for mars in the sky!!! and video taped something to that effect that night. (wish I could find that tape).
Thanks for the info.
Go look outside right now! There is no hoax. God damn the man who thinks he can outsmart millions of years of evolution. By the way if you missed the display, so sorry it won’t come again until late in the year 2200.
I got this e-mail a month ago and said to myself,,,, Self this can’t be true,,My wife did believe it and was passing it on,, it almost caused an accident in our marriage ,as she wanted to see it,, But I gave it a look on Google just to see and gave her the info to show that it was a hoax,, to bad..but I had no idea that there was a total lunar eclipse on the 27 th. I got up this morning went outside and looked up at the moon.. Wow ,, I thought there was something wrong with the moon..LOL,I almost had this coronary attack.Ha. Then I could tell what it was with logic..Anyway,, it is to bad that there are some who feel that they have to send out mail to the ones that are gullible enough to believe stuff like the Mars hoax.. to all…thanks for
this blog site..
Jer
Hi Larry,
After seeing the lunar eclipse this morning, I wonder if the folklore about “Mars as big as the full moon” refers to the color of the moon when it is under the eclipse.
The faint, red color of the moon during the eclipse makes the moon look like Mars, and of course is the size of the full moon.
Regards.
It was as real as anything, looking like 2 moons, i kid u not!
Good thing I didnt listen to ppl saying it wasnt real! I surely didnt miss out!
Ok, so why? I read through pages of blog, wondering why it looks like 2 large round objects, right there on my camera? So I read this blog thinking surely someone is going to tell me why I have on a series of pictures a large round greenish shaded object in different locations around my eclipse… but NO. just people are stupid… blah blah blah. WHAT might I ask do I have these awesome pictures of? I would like to show them to people and say, its not mars… its _______. Please fill in the blanks so I can inform anyone who I send my pics to?
Thanks for the ranting tyrade without explanation… made me late for work
It’s now 23:45pm in South Africa and I can see mars behind the moon!!! As big as the moon!! the planets are aligned. so it’s true as far as I can see! We have seen earlier this year 2 lunar eclipses and it doesn’t look any like that. At 00:00 am a complete alignment would be taking place.
So i took a picture with my 5 megapixel camera before the lunar eclipse started at 3:50 am central time. Was so bright it looked like the sun and after i took the pic and looked at it i saw a red dot next to it. A few minutes later i took another one and the red dot had moved around the moon. I am assuming that this was mars but i am unsure. Did anyone else get a picture like this??
Is there anybody reading this with a knowledge of psychology who can tell us why some readers are making things up, just so they can say “THEY SAW IT — NOT A HOAX — IT’S REAL!!!!”
Is this the same impulse that makes people read the kind of papers that tell us Elvis is alive and living on the Moon?
Or is it the impulse to support something they WANT to be true? In the Middle Ages there was no shortage of people who “saw” saints levitating, or other miracles. Nowdays people see UFOs…. or two moons.
Of course, there’s always a way of seeing two moons if you want to, as in E. A. Robinson’s Poem, “Mr. Flood’s Party” in which an old man walking home at night with a jug sips and sips, and eventually
“…amid the silver loneliness
Of night he lifted up his voice and sang,
Secure, with only two moons listening,
Until the whole harmonious landscape rang–”
i have proof in the picture i took but dont know how to upload it here. I would not make this up if thats what you are thinking. I was surprised when i took the picture, because i couldnt see it otherwise.
Wow, thanks for all your comments. Normally I would have responded more quickly, but normally I get an email notification when comments are made, but have not recently for some reason. That, combined with being caught up in other adventures kept me from responding until now. In any event, thanks to all of you for reading the blog and taking the time to comment.
If I do not reply specifically to your comment here, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t appreciate it.
Carl very astutely mentioned that the eclipsed moon this morning did indeed look like Mars. I hadn’t thought of that but it is absolutely true! And to be so close to the supposed (fake) time of the “double moon” is really amazing! But as Carl and most of the rest of us know, it is just a coincidence.
Interestingly, several comments have expressed the opinion that Mars really did appear as as the Full Moon. To you all I can say — and I am not trying to be rude — is that you are mistaken. I do now know what you saw, but you did not see Mars appearing as big as the full moon. This has never happened in recorded history, and most assuredly it did not happen Monday night or Tuesday morning. Some of you claimed to have observed something, but I do not know what you observed other than to say that is certainly not Mars appearing as big as a full moon. I personally observed both the eclipsed moon and Mars Tuesday morning, and they were separated in the sky by at least 90 degrees and did not appear anything at all alike. The moon was as big as usual, and orangish, and although Mars was bright, it was half the sky way and no larger than a pinpoint.
As someone has suggested, people may claim to have seen the “double moon” because of some aspect of their psychology that makes them feel that they did in fact see it, or some may be simply making it up for whatever reason. I think some are saying it as a joke. Truth is, Mars did not appear as big as a full moon, nor was it abnormally close to earth no Tuesday morning. Currently it is relatively bright in the constellation of Taurus, but otherwise there is nothing particularly unusual about its appearance or location relative to earth. I do not mean to be rude, but I do mean to be truthful. Anyone who claims that they saw Mars as big as the full moon or that it was extraordinarily close to earth is simply wrong.
LS
the picture i got was not as big as the full moon and i couldnt see it naked eye if there is a way i can e-mail this pic to you that would be great because im really curious as to what i took. Its a pic of the moon before the eclipse. I also had no idea of the hoax e-mail because i never received it. Was just looking for a place to upload this pic so someone could tell me what it was i got. thanks a bunch,
katie
Hi Katie,
My Husband and I are really curious about your picture. We are hoping to find a pic of the event right before the actual eclipse happened. We heard that it made it look like there were “two moons in the sky”.
Can you please send us your picture? Also, if you know of any other pictures or websites please e-mail us and let us know.
Thank you so much!
Nikkee & Gary Lindley
nikkeelindley@yahoo.com
Katie,
I emailed you separately some time back, but have not received a response. Offhand, I do not know what your photo shows. What I do know is that Mars does not now, did not then, and never has appeared anything close to as big as the full moon. If you did not see with your eyes whatever showed up in your photo, then the part that you think may be Mars is likely an internal reflection or some defect in the camera or process.
If anyone else has a photo they want to send in, post a message here and I will try to contact you. However, I can say unequivably and without hesitation that there was no “double moon” or Mars appearing “as big as the full moon” in August or any other time. Such stories may be told by sincere and honest people, but they are misguided and are in a league with stories of leprechauns and fairies.
LS