Haha. I am still laughing. There had been a recent rumour, spread via email and SMS text messages here in Male' (and possibly the rest of Maldives as well) that Mars was coming so close to earth that it would be visible tonight to the naked eye almost as large as the full moon. The message had apparently been passing around quite fast and people were talking about it excitedly - even the Kasauti stuck housewives, the bling sporting I-am-so-cool youth littering Male' and even much of the rebels-without-cause political acivitists that make up the majority of this sad city seemed to chattering up about it. As I walked along the road tonight, I saw people looking up at the sky to grab a glimpse of this so-called spectacular event. Some had flocked out to road from the confines of their homes to get a better look. I even saw a man looking up eagerly into the sky with a set of binoculars!

However, the sad truth is this is all a hoax. Yes, you've been duped had you believed the whatever SMS or friend who told you about it. In fact, Mars came closest to earth in 2003 and at the time it was so close that the red dot that signifies Mars on the night sky outshined the brightest and largest stars in the sky - it even easily grabbed the attention away from Venus and Sirius that usually are visible the brightest on the Maldivian night sky. Technically, the planet was around 56 million km way from earth and would be closest it comes to planet earth in 60,000 years! The news was mentioned in popular media outlets. Read about the event from these articles at NASA, RedOrbit and BBC.

A bunch of my close friends and I watched the planet through my telescope back then and was in awe of the clarity with which the mysterious red planet appeared. The close proximity of the planet made it easy to view not only with the naked eye but was a total delight to witness with the aid of a telescope. I would have captured images but my telescope wasn't as cool as the one that President Maumoon supposedly has in his mini-observatory in Theemuge.

Anyway, if this hoax has ignited and interest in the stars and events taking place in the mostly dark canvas of the night sky, then let me point you to SkyMaps.com where they have a freely downloadable map of the sky for each month to make your viewing easy. The constellations, planets and stars are shown for easy spotting and the celestial events for the month are also listed on the maps. It surely can contribute toward an exciting educational evening with friends/lover as you try to spot the stars and map the heavens

Enjoy