This was roughly accurate — in 2003, I mean, when a less elaborate version of the preceding message first went into circulation.
It was most definitely not accurate when the identical text resurfaced in 2005, nor when it cropped up for another go-around in 2006, nor again in 2007, 2008, 2009, etc.
The phenomenon variously known as "Mars Spectacular," "Close Encounter with Mars," "Mars Close to Earth," and "Two Moons" in different versions of the email came and went in 2003.
On August 27 of that year the orbital paths of Earth and Mars brought the two planets to within 34.65 million miles of one another — closer indeed than at any other time in the past 50,000 years. Though Mars never actually appeared "as large as the full moon to the naked eye" (as claimed in the email), the red planet did vividly dominate the night sky for a brief time, making 2003's close encounter a once-in-a-lifetime event indeed for astronomers, space enthusiasts, and ordinary observers alike.
Nothing so spectacular is predicted for 2012.
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See also:
Bigfoot on Mars
Urban Legends, 25 January 2008
News coverage:
Quashing the Myth of a Moon-Sized Mars
Fox News, 26 August 2010Mars-Moon Hoax Returns
CBC News, 26 August 2010The Mutating Mars Hoax
NASA Science News, 25 August 2010'Mars as Big as the Moon' Myth Makes a Return
Herald Sun, 9 August 2010Sky-Watcher Beware: Mars Email a 'Spectacular' Hoax
Nat'l Geographic News, 26 August 2009Mars as Big as the Moon: It's Baaaaack
Discover / Bad Astronomy blog, 19 August 2008
Last updated: 02/18/12
