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MOON ROUSSE- The planet Mars as big as the moon in the sky during Friday's red moon? It will not happen. This rumor runs on social networks a few days from the total lunar eclipse. But at the risk of disappointing some, the red planet will remain as visible as a star. Explanations.
– Sébastie MASTRANDREAS
"A cosmic event that only happens every 35,000 years: July 27, 2018, the planet Mars will be as big as the Moon ". This is what the site sciencesinfo.fr, a few days of the total lunar eclipse which will take on red the satellite of the Earth. This information is false: it is a hoax, which circulates regularly on the internet, with each eclipse of Total Moon.
Friday evening, from 21:30, French time, you just have to raise your head to observe a rare spectacle: a total lunar eclipse. On this occasion, the satellite of the Earth will take on coppery colors, which is called the "Blood Moon", or "Red Moon". This event will be coupled with a rapprochement of Mars planet Earth, which, according to rumors, will allow the red planet to be as big as the moon.
A phony info circulating for 18 years
This is not the first time that the rumor circulates in the nebula Internet. On his blog, a specialist on the issue, Phil Plait, denies the rumor and identifies the origin: in August 2003, an email became viral, claimed that Mars would become as big as the moon on a specific date in August the day the red planet was closest to the Earth. The information, obviously false, "starts from a bad interpretation", according to the specialist. Mars was as big as the Moon "the naked eye", but "through a telescope that magnifies an image 75 times," he continues.
Moreover, the site on which the false information is relayed precise, in its tab About which it publishes "information totally false, even archifausses and in addition, not even true". A satirical website in short, which relays a hack almost 20 years old.
The planet Mars will be brighter than normal
Normally located some 225 million kilometers from Earth, Mars will be closer to us on the night of July 31: only 58 million kilometers will bring us closer to the red planet. If this distance will not be enough to make the star bigger with the naked eye, it will offer on the other hand a better visibility: Mars will shine more than usual. At your telescopes!
Sébastie MASTRANDREAS
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