"Recently there was reports of alien cells in the Red Rain in southern Part of India. What is your views on this report?"
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Question
Is it true that in August of this year, 2009, Mars and earth will be closer together than ever before and Mars will look as large as the moon?
No, certainly not! Mars is never much closer than 50 million kilometers, so it is always a point source — it looks like a star. And no, Mars is not close to us in August 2009 either. It is actually near its farthest distance from Earth, hidden behind the Sun. This crazy statement comes around every summer, like a virus — it sleeps for a year and then reappears on the Internet. It first appeared in August 2003, when Mars was indeed very close to the Earth, about 55 million kilometers, but of course the bit about being as large as the Moon is pure fiction. There are several good Internet resources to tell you the locations of the planets. I recommend Sky & Telescope (www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance), or you can just google “planet positions”. You can also easily get the distance to Mars; just google “Mars distance” or “Mars orbit”.
David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
June 16, 2009
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