2 moons on 27th August! Have you received your annual reminder yet? Every year, I never fail to be reminded by email that on the 27th of August, 2 moons will be seen in the sky above me. Each year, I waited in vain for this phenomena to happen. I have waited for 3 consecutive August 27 and not once, did I manage to see the second moon.

This year is no different. Right on spot, somewhere in the middle of June, I received that email again. This year, it was a little bit more elaborate. Attached with the email is a Powerpoint presentation on how and why this astronomical miracle can and will happen. Let me share with you the full text of the email I received this year.

Check it out, guess no one will get much sleep in August.

Mars

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.

The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

Due to the way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide.

At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Share this with your children and grandchildren.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN

Now if this was the first time anyone received this email they are going to be thoroughly fooled just like yours truly here. What with all those precise scientific explanation and accompanied with powerpoint slides at that. I bet these emails will get better next year.

No one knows exactly who started this hoax and where it originated from. It first surfaced in or around 2003 and has never stopped till today. Every year a newer version makes it’s round and I bet every year there will be someone new who gets fooled. How the originator benefited from this hoax is something beyond me. I doubt he, she or they even got their last laugh.