I receive all kinds of forwarded mails, ones about fake profiles being created, orkut being shut down, 101 ways to contact AIDS(you know, sitting in movies with infected blood poking you know where, terrorist on the loose with hypodermic syringes and all those stuff)...The latest one says something like Mars will be quite close to the earth in two weeks and something about this being a momentous occasion and all the hungama that goes along with it. I normally give a cursory glance and then delete it. But some folks, actually do some research into the matter. Here is another mail I got which rebutts the Mars mail.....
"""An email that has circulated during July and August for several years is again hitting inboxes in 2007. The message informs recipients that the planet Mars will be passing very close to Earth in August. While this information was valid back in 2003, it is totally inaccurate for 2007.
The year is not specifically mentioned in the message and a great many recipients therefore assume that the message refers to August, 2007. Another version of the message is circulating via SMS. Virtually identical (and equally misleading) messages were circulating back in July and August 2005 and again in July and August 2006. The events outlined in the message were more or less true back in 2003 although they were a little hyped even then. According to NASA, on August 27, 2003, Earth and Mars were the closest they have been for around 60,000 years. Mars was indeed a spectacular site in the night sky during several months of 2003.
However, this fact is not quite as earth shattering as you might think. A 2003 NASA article on the subject explains that:
Much has been made of the fact that the August 27th encounter with Mars is the closest in some 60,000 years. Neanderthals were the last to observe Mars so favorably placed. This is true. It's also a bit of hype. Mars and Earth have been almost this close many times in recent history.
In spite of the claims in the 2006 incarnation of the message, Mars was a far less than "spectacular" sight in the night sky. For much of 2006, it was on the far side of the sun from the Earth and was quite inconspicuous during July and August.
And, during July and August 2007, the view of Mars will again be far less than spectacular. Mars will make its closest approach to Earth in December 2007, but, even then, it will not be particularly bright. The SEDS website notes:
Mars will come into its Opposition on December 24, 2007 in constellation Gemini. Six days earlier, on December 18, 2007, the planet will have come to its closes distance to Earth during this apparation: 88.42 million km (55 million miles, or 0.58935 AU). This is not very close, as Mars will be quite close to its aphelion at the time of this opposition. As usual, this approach will offer another opportunity to launch spacecraft to the red planet: Nasa intends to send the Mars lander Phoenix.
The planet will be situated far north: At a northern declination of +26:46 at opposition time, Northern hemisphere observers will find it high in their meridian, and Southerners will find it low in the North. In this rather aphelic opposition, the planet will become only as bright as mag -1.64, and of diameter 15.88 arc seconds around that time.
At around 88 million kilometers, Mars will be a lot further away from Earth this year than it was back in 2003 when the distance between the planets was only around 56 million kilometers.
This message seems set to keep resurfacing every year and duping a whole new set of recipients into gazing rather fruitlessly at the night sky. But don't despair! Close encounters with Mars are not such uncommon events. The claim that "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!" is misleading. It is true that the next time Mars will be as close to Earth as it was in 2003 will be on August 28, 2287. In the mean time however, there will be plenty of other close approaches, so our children and our children's children are not likely to miss out altogether.
Perhaps by 2287 some of our descendants will be observing the close encounter from the Martian perspective"""
Hmm...interesting, I am not in a mood to do further research at this point. But I wonder; how many copies the the rebutting mail will I have to delete? Is it my responsibility to forward this mail to everone I know? And if I do so, will I turn into that category of people I hate?....
Only I can turn a single question of "whether or not I should forward a mail to others" into a life threatening mind boggling psychological paradox.......:)
Sigh....thats lyfe....
