All right. I’ve had enough questions about this lately that I feel compelled to surface from pre-baby renovation marathons to respond on-blog.

Mars will not be so close to Earth on August 27 that it appears as large and as bright as our moon. If you have received any email suggesting otherwise, you have found a hoax that has been circulated — seemingly every year — since 2003. Instead of debunking this one yet again, I will simply point you to Fraser Cain’s post on Universe Today and to Phil Plait’s (somewhat more exasperated) post on Bad Astronomy .

Incidentally, those who stay up particularly late on the 27th (EDT) may be rewarded — weather permitting — with a lovely lunar eclipse during the wee hours of the 28th. Perhaps the blood red of the moon during totality will convince some that Mars has come round at last. Observation details on NASA’s Eclipse page.