Question:
Have Mars appeared as big as a moon to the naked eyes within the last billion of years in the sky?
2016-05-24 22:21:19 UTC
First, let me apologize for the last question that was confusing to many and so I decided to re-ask the right question about Mars.

Also, will we ever get a chance to see Mars that big in our lifetime?
Thirteen answers:
2016-05-24 22:36:33 UTC
No.



There was huge hoax several years ago when Mars was as close to Earth as it could possibly get for quite some time. Mars currently has a pretty elliptical orbit, so the rumors were and the hoax was was lot bigger than it is this year, Opposition of Mars was on Sunday. mars is not, never has been nor it will be as big as the full Moon to the naked eye in our life times.
Sciencenut
2016-05-25 07:47:06 UTC
You would have to get about half a million miles away from Mars in order for it to appear as large as the Moon. Since Mars never comes closer than ~35Million miles from Earth in its orbit it can't happen unless you are in a spacecraft in the general proximity of Mars.

There was in existence a planet about the same size as Mars around 4 Billion years ago, that resided in an orbit very similar to Earth's orbit. It was called Theia, and it probably zoomed past Earth quite closely for a while until it crashed into Earth.
Paul
2016-05-25 07:05:32 UTC
No. Mars never gets that close in its orbit.



There is an internet hoax that some people seem to fall for that comes around every time there is a total lunar eclipse where people claim the "blood moon" is the planet Mars because it looks red. It's obviously not Mars, it's just a full moon that's red in colour because the shadow of the Earth is red (for the same reason the sky is blue).
Lucas C
2016-05-25 10:38:14 UTC
The short answer is: No, Mars has never and will never appear as large as the Moon.



The long answer is: Because Earth moves faster around the Sun than Mars does, our planet overtakes and passes Mars in its orbit. When Earth is roughly between the Sun and Mars, we say that Mars is at opposition (as in...Mars is positioned opposite the Sun in Earth's sky). This happens every 26 months.



Mars's orbit is fairly elliptical. At its closest point (perihelion), Mars is about 207 million kilometers from the Sun, and at its farthest point (aphelion), Mars is about 249 million kilometers from the Sun. When opposition occurs close to Mars's perihelion, which happens about every 15 or 17 years, then Mars might appear particularly bright in Earth's sky.



But even then, it will *never* appear as large as the full Moon. Even under the very best conditions, Mars is still 142 times farther away from Earth than the Moon is. And since Mars is only about twice as large as the Moon is, that means that at the very best, Mars is about 70 - 75 times smaller than the Moon.



On August 27, 2003, Mars's opposition coincided with Mars's perihelion, prompting a flurry of news stories. One astronomer said, correctly, that when viewed through a telescope magnified 75 times, Mars would look as big as the full moon looks to the naked eye. Some careless reporter left out the bit about the telescope, saying that Mars would look as big as the full moon...period. And thus, the Mars-Moon hoax was inadvertently born. Since then, a few weeks before August 27 *every year*, somebody starts passing around memes about Mars looking as big as the Moon. Lately, it seems they pass around the meme whenever they want to have a laugh at some foolish person's expense.



Here's the truth: Mars will never, ever, EVER look as large as Earth's moon in Earth's sky. Ever.



I hope that helps. Good luck!
2016-05-25 11:28:48 UTC
Unfortunately, no. Mars is way too far to be orbiting in it's opposite direction. The closest it ever got to earth was on August 27, 2003, but it has never appeared as big as the moon. Sorry, but it will never appear that big.
?
2016-05-25 03:54:56 UTC
we now know that planets can migrate within a stellar system (hot gas giants could not form in a hot zone) AND that smaller rocky planets can survive the migration process.



Therefore over a billion year period it is perfectly possible that there has been migration within this Solar System.

Therefore planets have passed each other (strange image) - so yes it is possible that Mars showed closer BUT not close enough to look like the Moon because that would be within the Roche limit.
2016-05-25 07:46:56 UTC
No, Mars has never appeared as big as the full moon.

That story was wrong in 2002 when it first came out and its just as wrong now.



And no, Mars will never appear that big. It does not get any closer than about 35 million kilometers. At most it appears as a large dot in the sky.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_hoax
Brigalow Bloke
2016-05-25 05:14:08 UTC
Never.



Mars will never appear the size of the Moon to an observer on Earth. Is that clear?
?
2016-05-25 00:10:45 UTC
No. for the last 4.5 Billion Years Mars has always looked the same.
quantumclaustrophobe
2016-05-24 23:13:50 UTC
No. It hasn't happened in the past, nor will it happen in the future. We'll see it as pretty bright - but never big like the moon.
?
2016-05-24 23:04:14 UTC
Yes you can sometimes see mars
Gary B
2016-05-25 08:01:50 UTC
No.



MArs is TOO FAR AWAY to do that.
Dump the liberals into Jupiter
2016-05-25 05:10:17 UTC
No. And no again.


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