>Hi Tom,
>
>MARS WILL APPEAR AS BIG AS THE MOON! FIRST TIME IN AT LEAST 5,000 YEARS!
>
>I think you missed your calling with the National Enquirer :-) However, it is and will be a dramatic sight. I caught it about 3 AM (yawn) about a week ago between the clouds. All I need now is a mid night power outage.

Jim;

The size cannot be correct. I got this from a fellow worker, who got it from the Internet. The Internet is the place where everything you read is true! :)

During the August 27 oposition to Mars, the red plant will be bright and spectacular.
However, the Internet mis-information about it's apearent size is laughable.

Mars will be 25 arcseconds across.

arcminute
An arcminute is a unit for measuring angles between
objects in the sky. ... the Moon and Sun ...
are about 30 arcminutes across,...

arcsecond
An arcsecond ... there are 60 arcseconds to an
arcminute.

30' X 60 = 1800"
1800 / 25 = 72.
The diameter of a full moon will be 72 times the diameter of Mars.

By the way I will bet it will be foggy in the San Francisco Bay Area and we will miss the entire event. Oh well, we have an election to consider! :)

Tom