E-mails claiming that Mars will be close to Earth on 27 August 2010 and appear to be the size of the moon are circulating again. These e-mails have sprung up periodically since the close approach on 27 August 2003 and are an obvious hoax. With the 2003 close approach the planet was bright, but no “disc” could be discerned with the naked eye. A small “disc” could be seen through a basic telescope and the larger telescopes revealed the polar caps.
We “pass” Mars every 26 months. The next Mars opposition (when Earth passes roughly between the sun and Mars) will be on 3 March 2012.
these emails make me angry. mostly coz i have this innate need to find out the hoax, and let all involved know that it’s bollocks.
one would think, that after how many years, people would catch a wake-up!
i want to create my own hoax and see how far it goes.
any suggestions?
You dislike it but want to create your own?? Don’t do it, don’t go over to the dark side!!
As to how or what? Bloody anything. People are stupid enough to believe and spread anything.
Tell them the towers we blow up in Cape Town is causing mass asbestos poisoning and that it was the DA’s way of getting rid of a few squatter camps. Why else did Dan press the button??
i was thinking of some genius religious one, that will get people to have a bit of a wake-up, but if they want to believe… and honestly, i dont have the time to try and think like a woo. so i will give it a pass, sounded like fun for a moment…
Never too late, create a story about a little boy that watched the towers fall with his folks, and then 5 hours later started bleeding from his pores, and it was THE DUST CLOUD THAT CLOGGED HIS PORES and because his skin couldnt breathe, they rushed him to hospital and end the thing with asking everybody to send it to all the people in their address book and to pray for the boy. And GCG, you’re good with making up tales, elaborate all you like. The masses will lap it up and maybe, just maybe you can get yourself on Snopes… ;D
Ah, but you make a list of plausibility. Just add a bunch of Froms at the top, so it looks like it was forwarded to you. Make the start something like [email protected]
E.g.
-----Original Message-----
From:[email protected]
Sent: 19 August 2010 12:44 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: Little boy sent to hospital after watching demolition
I’ve also toyed with the idea of conducting a spectacular hoax. Especially something with a cryptozoological bent. Maybe one day I’ll construct a giant shell, and leave it lying on the beach during a storm. Or perhaps a visit to the abattoir and fish market for spare parts to assemble something really special … 8) Oh, I know, does anybody have a spare cat?
Mars is of course about as far from earth as is possible at the moment. It could be that the Mars-at-opposition-email is more of a misunderstanding that a hoax, after some of the text was dropped from the original, which was real enough. Whatever the intent of the emaill, it does, at the very least, cause many people to go outside and have a look at the planets for themselves, and when Mars is pointed out to them, there is always a very encouraging “That little orange dot? Well I never …”
I send in a letter to the local paper about this. Explaining it as a hoax but telling them were Mars would be how far it would be and so on. Received this letter today (1 Sep). Don’t know why I bothered to send in the 1st one. The photo mentioed is clearly a photoshop spesial.
Al was mars langs die maan nie met die blote oog sigbaar nie, het ’n plaaslike fotograaf dit deur haar fotolens gesien en selfs ’n foto geneem gekry.
Radiostasies het dit hierdie week afgemaak as ’n “klugspul” en almal het laggend gesê dat hulle niks gesien het nie. Vryskutfotograaf Elanie Pretorius het egter die bewyse!
Sy kon ook nie die aand van 27 Augustus iets sien nie en het eers haar 300mm lens opgesit. In die hoek van die foto was iets en sy het haar langer lens, 400mm, opgesit. Dié keer was die planeet duidelik sigbaar !
Regdeur die land is ’n e-pos gestuur dat mars aan die begin van Augustus baie naby aan die aarde sou wees. Daar is gemeld dat dié planeet op sy naaste in die omgewing van 34,650,000 myl aan die aarde sou wees.
Mars sou aan die begin van Augustus teen 22:00 opkom. Verder is gemeld dat mars met die blote oog soos die maan sal vertoon.
Volgens die e-pos sal mars eers weer in die jaar 2287 so naby aan die aarde wees en dit is as gevolg van die gravitasiekrag wat Jupiter op mars uitoefen. Die verduideliking sê dat volgens astroloë mars nog nie so naby aan die aarde gekom in die laaste 5 000 jaar nie, maar kan so lank as 60 000 jaar vat voor dit weer sal gebeur. Mars sou ook gedurende Augustus, naas die maan, die helderste voorwerp in die hemelruim wees. Dit word toegeskryf daaraan dat die aarde vinniger as mars om die son beweeg en dat die aarde elke 26 maande by mars aan die binnebaan verbysteek. Op ’n sekere punt is die aarde, mars en son dan in lyn, wat ’n opposisie genoem word.
Aangeien mars se wentelbaan ovaal is en die aarde rond, is hulle nie altyd ewe ver van mekaar tydens ’n opposisie nie. Gedurende Augustus, met 27 Augustus as die hoogtepunt, sou die planete naby mekaar beweeg en met die oog te sien wees. Dit sou egter steeds net as ’n helder ster te sien wees.
Toe niemand dit opmerk nie, is dit as bog afgemaak en selfs so versprei....totdat Elanie haar kameralens opgesit het!
10ff22-1
Die foto van die maan met mars daarnaas wat Elanie Pretorius met haar 400mm lens net na 22:00 op 27 Augustus geneem het.
that’s all good and well, where is the photo then? showing the date, time, etc, the shot was taken. in the properties setting, it will show what lens was used, what camera… so, show the goods lady!!!
i am very aware of the night sky (im constantly looking for UFO’s. bad habit), so i would sure as hell have noticed that mars is the size of the moon. and so would pretty much anyone with eyes that work. the tv would have had it on.
the fact that she needed a lens, means it’s sure as hell not the size of the effing moon. (wtf!!)
with a 200 lens i manged to get a quater full viewfinder with the moon on it fullest. so really now.
i wil gladly debunk that photo post haste.
