No two moons, see the Moon, Mars, Venus instead

Washington, Aug 27: To all those who received the bulk e-mail that two moons will be visible on Friday, Aug 27, NASA has a lesson for you - it's a hoax!

NASA has set out to bust the myth that Earth will have two moons shining on it on Aug 27 night reasoning that one object in the sky would be the Moon while the other would be none other than the object of many's fascination, the red planet, Mars.

Here is what NASA has to say, "On Aug 27, 2010, Mars will be 314 million km from Earth, about as far away as it can get. Mars will shine in the western sky after sunset like a tiny red star of ordinary brightness. If you didn't know it was there, you probably wouldn't notice."

The viral e-mail that promises two moons declares, "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN."

'The Mars Hoax' has been infecting inboxes around the world since 2003. This is the seventh year in a row that the e-mail that states that on Aug 27 Mars will approach Earth and swell to the size of a full Moon has hit the internet.

On Aug 27, 2003, Mars really did swell to unusual proportions, NASA said, Mars came within 56 million km of Earth—the nearest it has been in 60,000 years and sky-gazers marvelled at the orange brilliance of the planet.

Slamming "The Mutating Mars Hoax" that refuses to die, NASA ends its statement ordering, "Here"s what you should do on Aug 27th. Go outside at sunset and face west. The bright light you see shining through the twilight is lovely Venus. Grab a pair of binoculars and scan the sky around Venus. A few degrees to the right, you"ll come across a little orange star-like object. That is Mars.

"Now go back inside and delete that email."

OneIndia News