yea, i had been waiting for this for days now... had it on my cell phone and it kept beeping the whole day ... i thaught maybe it wasnt showing here becuase its cloudy ... so i just came on the internet to check is someone else had a picture of it any place... and here is what i found ... i am really disappointed ... *phew*

"Mars Spectacular" E-Mail Hoax Spins On

Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News

August 26, 2005
Planning to haul out the deck chairs, blankets, and binoculars Saturday night for Mars's closest approach to Earth in history? Save yourself the trouble.

"The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!" a widely circulated e-mail chain letter claims. "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."


And just in case you didn't get the message, it ends, "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!"

Mars did make an incredibly close pass on August 27 ... 2003. On that date it came within 35 million miles of Earth—the nearest the two planets have been in perhaps 60,000 years

Titled "Mars Spectacular," the e-mail exemplifies the power of the Internet and some of the problems plaguing it.

Internet Chain Letters Never Die

The Mars e-mail alert racing across the Internet urges, "Pass this on to your friends." Inevitably it makes its way to news outlets around the world (including National Geographic News) with enthusiastic messages—"you have to cover this!"—attached.

It's hard to know why someone would promulgate such an easily checkable story—one quick trip to a search engine brings the "Mars Spectacular" down to Earth.

Is the perpetrator gleefully waiting to see how many news organizations or Web blogs will fall for it and run the story—particularly given that these are the slow-news dog days of summer?

If so, plotters take note: Debunkers are also sending e-mails, including an alert from ,i>Sky and Telescope magazine titled "Don't Get Snookered by Mars Malarkey."

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office for Cyber Security says chain e-mails are initiated for a number of reasons. It could be as simple as curiosity: How far will the letter will go? Others are sent in an attempt to bilk money from people to damage reputations.

for full story: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0826_050826_mars_hoax.html

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'Spectacular' view of Mars turns out to be hoax

CTV.ca News Staff

It was touted as a 'spectacular' view of Mars and a 'once-in-a-lifetime event.'

But the e-mail that promised stunning views of the Red Planet during its 'closest approach' to Earth turned out to be nothing more than a hoax.

What was spectacular was how quickly the message whipped around cyberspace -- fooling thousands of people who began preparing for Saturday's 'amazing' historical event.

"Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history," boasted the e-mail which was titled 'Mars Spectacular.'

"On August 27th...Mars will look as large as the full moon," it continued.

And finally: "No one alive today will ever see this again."

The hoax created a frenzy around the world and astronomers like David Dodge from Vancouver's Pacific Space Centre were inundated with floods of phone calls.

"This e-mail is either a perpetration by a very ignorant person or its a hoax, but whatever it is it's absolutely wrong," Dodge told CTV News.

And a Vancouver telescope shop saw sales rocket as excited star gazers came in to purchase gear for the big non-event.

"I think we had three dozen people come in and about a dozen we've sold scopes to," Bojan Tic of the Vancouver Telescope Centre told CTV News.

The fact is, Mars did make a close pass to Earth, but that was on August 27, 2003.

On that day it came within 56 million kilometres of Earth -- the nearest the two planets have been in perhaps 60,000 years.

However, Earth and Mars are indeed set for a close encounter this year.

On October 29 at 10:19 a.m. ET, Mars will be 69 million kilometers away from Earth and should look like a bright red star, but certainly not as wide as the full Moon.

And for those who are disappointed the 'spectacular' sight won't actually be happening, it's worth bearing in mind that if Mars did come close enough to rival the Moon, its gravity would alter Earth's orbit and create disastrous tides.

Victims of the hoax can perhaps take some comfort in the fact that on October 29, 2005, Mars will shine brighter than anything else in the sky except the Sun, the Moon and Venus.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1125102575457_75/?hub=TopStories

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Mars Hoax

Mars Hoax
By: David Hovde


Have you read this e-mail:

"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"

Of course as part of this e-mail is a photo which has been manipulated to show the Moon and Mars the same size.

I have been asked numerous times why we aren't covering this. Well the answer is simple, it just isn't true.

It was actually Aug. 27, 2003, when Mars was at its closest distance to Earth in 60,000 years. The next such close encounter will be in 2287.

Mars will pass close to Earth this year, but not until Oct. 30, when it will appear smaller compared to the moon than it did in 2003, according to NASA reports.

For future reference, if it doesn't sound right...it usually isn't.

http://www.ksby.com/home/headlines/1669176.html