In an annual ritual, I've received my first e-mail about Mars looking as big as the moon coming up in August. The people who forward these e-mails always mean well, but you should know that the claims of the e-mail are not true.
There are different forms of the text, but the one I see most often says something like "Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye." Like most prolonged myths, it's partially based in fact -- an event sort of like this occurred in 2003. But even then, you had to use a 75x telescope in order to have Mars appear to be the same size as the moon.
When I get e-mail forwards like that, I always check them out at snopes.com. Here's their page about the "Mars Spectacular" e-mail.
Another realm of fake weather e-mails is photos. Because we solicit weather-related photos, people often forward me the ones they get from their friends and family. Here are some of the more popular ones. If you recognize any of these photos, chances are the description in the e-mail isn't accurate... click the link for the real scoop.
Tornado or Katrina?
Not a tsunami!
What is this ship heading toward?
How many waterspouts?
Where and when was this taken?
So, next time you get a weather-related e-mail that seems too amazing to be true, it may not be true at all -- check it out, and you'll be smarter as a result!
There are different forms of the text, but the one I see most often says something like "Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye." Like most prolonged myths, it's partially based in fact -- an event sort of like this occurred in 2003. But even then, you had to use a 75x telescope in order to have Mars appear to be the same size as the moon.
When I get e-mail forwards like that, I always check them out at snopes.com. Here's their page about the "Mars Spectacular" e-mail.
Another realm of fake weather e-mails is photos. Because we solicit weather-related photos, people often forward me the ones they get from their friends and family. Here are some of the more popular ones. If you recognize any of these photos, chances are the description in the e-mail isn't accurate... click the link for the real scoop.
Tornado or Katrina?
Not a tsunami!
What is this ship heading toward?
How many waterspouts?
Where and when was this taken?
So, next time you get a weather-related e-mail that seems too amazing to be true, it may not be true at all -- check it out, and you'll be smarter as a result!
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