There are wild claims going on all around the Internet (and in email boxes) to the effect that there will be “two moons” in the sky tomorrow night as Mars will grow to the size of the Full Moon. So can this possibly be true?
Hardly.
In a hoax dating to 2003 and the great Mars opposition of that year when Mars made its closest approach to Earth in about 60,000 years in August, the claim wasn't true then and sure isn't true now. Yes, while Mars got bright that year, it didn't even get as bright as Venus (which can be seen tonight, just look West at dusk).
However, that doesn't stop the hoax from resurfacing each August or each Mars opposition.
The Mars/Moon hoax came back into the forefront when Mars came to a far less spectacular opposition this January and, now that it's August, it is making the rounds again, so don't get duped.
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The tiny Full Moon
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