hello, how are you? i have a question? i would like to know the good guide about the location the people can go to the mountain and check the sky. my location is in New Jersey, USA i am close to Pensilvania.
it's possible i can see the planets without vinicular . i am glad you can help to star to know about astros, i love everything around the world in and out and the another casual thing is my birthday is August 27,2006. it's 6.57 p.m., around here is pretty cloudy,i'm located in kearny,n.j. 07032 and i could use the route 80 West go to the mountain or maybe around here will be difficult to see this phenomenon. thanks for your patience and i wait your answer if you need more details.
Voné

Welcome, exstar. It isn't quite clear from your post, but it looks like you are talking about the story going around about the appearance of Mars. I hope you have a good birthday, but I'm sorry to tell you that this is a hoax.

Mars did make a (relatively) close approach on August 27, 2003, though it never did and never could appear to the naked eye as large as the full moon. The good news is that it will look really nice in late October, and there is a whole sky to look at.

Anyway, here's an article on it:

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publ...mars_haox.html

We have had a lot of questions on this. Unfortunately, the hoax just keeps going and going and . . .

As far as skywatching goes, I'm not from that area, so I can't suggest anything specific. I would suggest you try to find a local astronomy or sky watching group.

__________________
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

Setting aside the hoax, if the orbit of Mars were altered into one with such a large eccentricity that at its perihelion, with Earth at Mars' inferior conjunction, its naked eye image would equal that of the moon and its aphelion position were adjusted to leave the kinetic energy of its orbit unchanged from its present value, how close would Mars be to Earth and what would be the tidal effects on Earth at Mars most near approach?

__________________
For those inclined to oppose human meddling with the structure of the universe or the composition and configuration of objects and groups of objects within the universe, consider:
Whether there is a limit to the magnitude of a modulation of chaos below which order remains invariant? Or, is order but a fiction invented by perspectives applied over finite, however large, time intervals?

I had to read the question three times to make sure I was going to answer it, because the first time I immediately jumped to a quick response, but I thought, maybe that was too easy.

Mars is about twice the diameter of the moon, so it would be twice as far as the moon in that case. The tidal effects would be about the same--objects of similar density that look about the same size will have similar tidal effect. The reason that the solar tides are smaller than the moon (even though they both look the same size) is because the sun is much less dense than the moon.