Can you see Mars from Australia and if so when. If so what date will Mars be almost the same size as the moon? In: Planetary Science, Planet Mars [Edit categories]
[Improve] Welcome to the world of internet hype. Yes, Mars was as close to the Earth as it has gotten for 60,000 years (about 56 million kilometers). This did happen in August 2003. At that time it was 85 times brighter and 6 times larger than usual. However it does come almost as close and seems to be almost as bright every 15 to 17 years (you'd have o be a trained observer to see the difference) Now about the "as large as a full moon" bit. Even at this maximum size, the planet Mars will still seem to be less than 2% of the size of the full moon. A bit of math shows that since Mars is about twice the diameter of the moon (6792 m vs. 3475 km) it would only appear to be as large as the moon if it were twice as far away (780,000 km based on the Earth to moon distance of 390,000 km). At 56 million kilometers Mars would only seem to be 1.4% of the full moon's diameter.
Next "close" visit is 2018.
There is a hoax email circulating (often associated with a virus) which makes the ridiculous claims about Mars' apparant size.
Mars is visible from Australia, and the times vary so check with astronomical data for your location.
Cast your eyes above the area of the set sun..first visible star is Mars.. Further up is Saturn And slightly more elevated to the right is Venus..our brightest star.
The 3 make an odd shaped triangle above where the sun had set.
