Every summer there's a highly misinformed and misleading e-mail that circulates in cyberspace about how on Aug. 27 Mars will be as close as it's been to Earth in 60,000 years and will be as big as a full moon!

I know many of you have seen it and unfortunately some folks have fallen for it, grabbing lawn chairs, mosquito juice and over inflated high hopes to see this incredible momentous event and poof … nothing happened!

Just another pleasant evening under the stars. In and of itself I think that's pretty special, but not if you've lost sleep and have to explain to your children that you dragged them out and kept them up half the night because you were fooled by garbage on the Internet.

By the way, beware, there's similar cyber refuse making the rounds about the end of the world in 2012 because of Mayan prophecy.

The annual Mars hoax is based on a real event that did take place on Aug. 27, 2003, when Mars was the closest it's been to Earth in 60,000 years.

It was a great event that I'll never forget, but by no means was Mars as big as a full moon, not even close.

This month Mars won't be the closest it's been in 60,000 years in our Butler evening sky, but it will be the closest it's been in more than two years.

Astronomers call it opposition, and it happens when the Earth and another planet find themselves in a straight line with the sun, with the Earth in between the sun and the planet.

This can only happen to a planet like Mars that is farther away from the sun than our Earth. These planets are referred to as superior planets. As you can see in the diagram, that geometrically puts the sun and Mars at their minimum distance.

This set up occurs every 780 days, just over two Earth years. The actual date of opposition this time around with Mars is Jan. 27th when the red planet will be 61.6 million miles away.

Not all oppositions are alike though, especially in the case of Mars. That's because Mars' orbit around the sun is anything but perfectly circular. Rather, it is slightly ovalish.

As it orbits the sun every 687 days, Mars reaches perihelion, or it's closest point to the Sun, at just over 128 million miles and aphelion, or it's farthest point away, at nearly 157 million miles from our home star.

This eccentricity of Mars' orbit is affected by the gravitational influence of other planets, especially the very massive Jupiter.

Unfortunately, this time around Mars is nearly at aphelion with the sun during opposition, and that puts the distance between Earth and Mars at a little greater than average. So to be really honest with you, this opposition of Mars won't be all that great.

Back in August 2003 Mars and Earth were only separated by 34.3 million miles. This time around Mars will be a lot farther away at nearly 62 million miles at opposition. The next really close opposition of Mars will take place in 2018 when the red planet will be just under 36 million miles from our backyards.

So I certainly don't want to oversell the Mars opposition of 2010, but nonetheless Mars will be shining very brightly for the next couple months and for at least through mid-March will be the second brightest starlike object in the sky.Only the star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major will outshine Mars.Also, because of the celestial geography of Earth lying between Mars and the Sun, that puts them at opposite ends of our sky.That means Mars is available all night long for our celestial perusal, rising in the east around sunset and setting in the west around sunrise just like a full moon.Finding Mars in the evening sky is very easy. Just look for the brightest starlike object you can see in the low eastern sky. It also has a copper-red tinge to it.You can take a look at Mars through your telescope but honestly, you're not going to see all that much detail. First off, Mars is not all that close during this opposition. Secondly, Mars isn't all that big to begin with, about half the size of the Earth.Realistically about all you'll see is a small reddish disk through even moderate to large telescopes, but if conditions are just right you might see a little patch of white on the upper limb of the disk.If your telescope gives you an upside down inverted view, like most do, what you can see of the polar cap will be on the lower limb of the disk.It's also a good idea to wait until Mars is higher in the sky to view it with your telescope so you don't have to look through so much of Earth's blurring atmosphere.After about 10 p.m. or so Mars should be high enough in the heavens for you to get a clearer view of our red neighbor. Also, remember to take long, continuous looks through your telescope to let your eye get used to the light level through your scope and to catch the times when Earth's atmosphere is a little more transparent.Upper winds are constantly changing how clearly we can see celestial targets in the night sky, even if there aren't any clouds.Thanks to all of the orbiters and rovers flying and crawling over Mars in the last 30 years, we know a whole lot more about the red planet.I think the key discovery is all of the water that's presently on Mars, mostly underground. Where there's water there's also the possibility of life.One thing for sure, Mars definitely had a more watery past both on the surface and in its atmosphere. Stay tuned … new discoveries are constantly being made.<B><I>Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and author of the book, "Pennsylvania Starwatch," available at bookstores and at his Web site, www.lynchandthestars.com.</I></B>

Mars