Hello,

The old "Mars Spectacular" email is making the rounds again - claiming that Mars will pass extraordinarily close to the Earth in August 2006. As most all of you know, this occurred in August, 2003. I've had to kindly respond to friends and family for the last three years...

For a quick response to the well meaning, but uninformed, feel free to copy and past the text below.

"There have been some emails about Mars coming within a close distance of the Earth in August...
Unfortunately, the person who sent out this email has their dates mixed up. The event mentioned already occurred - on August 27th, 2003! Sorry if you missed it.
This email has been making the rounds since 2004.

<href="http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp">Snopes

Thanks for the heads up anyway though."

We will probably have to deal with these emails for years to come, but I guess if it gets people interested in astronomy, I'm all for it.

Have a great day!
Vince