When Mars doesn't hit your eye like a big pizza pie...
For the record, despite any email passarounds you may have gotten, Mars is not at Opposition this August. Ever since the epic 2003 Mars Opposition, this comes back to haunt the Internet every year.
The actual Mars Opposition is late January 2010, and it's not a particularly good one; 0.66398 AU (Astronomical Units, the distance from the Sun to the Earth). There won't be a really good one until 2018, 0.38496 AU, almost as good as the 2003 Opposition. Snopes on this.
With the relatively lame Opposition in late January, I'm not even sure the Martians will bother launching their tripod war machines this time around... or switching Earth-Martian babies, like in that Warner Brothers cartoon ROCKET-BYE BABY.
In the meantime, if you really have a hankering to look at Mars, I recommend bringing up Google Earth and toggling over to Mars with the SKY button (little Saturn icon). Too cool!
The actual Mars Opposition is late January 2010, and it's not a particularly good one; 0.66398 AU (Astronomical Units, the distance from the Sun to the Earth). There won't be a really good one until 2018, 0.38496 AU, almost as good as the 2003 Opposition. Snopes on this.
With the relatively lame Opposition in late January, I'm not even sure the Martians will bother launching their tripod war machines this time around... or switching Earth-Martian babies, like in that Warner Brothers cartoon ROCKET-BYE BABY.
Click to viewIn the meantime, if you really have a hankering to look at Mars, I recommend bringing up Google Earth and toggling over to Mars with the SKY button (little Saturn icon). Too cool!