Fact check: Will Mars look as big as the Moon on August 27 this year?

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According to the recent rumour with respect to the appearance of the moon on August 27, 2020, an image with two moons appears to be all over social media. The message states that on August 27 this year, planet Mars would appear to be in the same size as that of the moon. This is the image that is being forwarded on social media regarding the mars and moon conjunction.

Image courtesy: Twitter

Image courtesy: Twitter

Image courtesy: Twitter

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Will Mars look as big as the moon on August 27?

• Republic World did a fact check on the same rumour which states that the planet Mars will look as big as the moon on August 27 this year. The rumour was found to be a hoax and according to the Earthsky website, the rumour has been existing since 2003. Sometimes the same image is shared with the hoax of 'two moons to be seen in the Earth sky' hoax as well. 
• The original email that was shared in 2003, as quoted from universetoday website, goes like this -

  "The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

  The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification

  Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That’s pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN".

• The actual fact stated by NASA.com states that Mars and Earth do come close to each other every 2 years (22 months to be exact), but it still doesn't come as close to what was observed on August 27, 2003. According to the NASA website, the planet Mars had recorded a 60,000-year-old record for a close approach to Earth in 2003. However, even then, planet Mars just looked like a bright star and nothing like a full moon. 

• According to NASA website, planet Mars is not expected to come as close to Earth as it was observed in the year 2003, until the year 2287. 

• On August 27, 2003, planet Earth and Mars came a bit closer than they had been 60,000 years earlier than 2003. So, in 2003, Earth and Mars were recorded to be less than 35 million miles apart from each other. The 2003 event was actually a part of the 15-year cycle of mars planet. 

• So, in conclusion, planet Mars can never appear as large as the moon according to the article by Space.com in 2015. The article said that Mars is twice as wide as compared to the moon, so for it to appear like a moon, it would have to get near 476,000 miles from Earth. 

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Google Trends analysis for the keyword 'August 27 big moon'

The Google Trends analysis showed that people have been heavily searching for 'August 27 moon' keyword after the hoax spread out during the same time. The trends were seen to be higher on August 7th as well as on August 8th. Take a look at the keyword search trends when people searched about August 27 moon recently. 

Image courtesy: Google Trends

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