Two months ago I received an email, from a credible source, announcing that on the 27th of August, at 00:29 am, the planet Mars would be visible without any aid of telescopes. Due to an optical illusion, we would be able to see a red ball, as big as the moon.
Of course we couldn’t miss such sight.
Yesterday morning Gaby mentioned that some people in Livingston were discussing it. Thus, last night, after dinner, Gaby, 5 Spanish guests and yours truly, hopped on boat for the adventure waiting around the corner for us.
It was suppose to be only Gaby and I on this night trip but I felt that the Spanish group needed cheering up after getting their passports and 4000 Quetzals robbed in the Seven Altars waterfalls. They were really nice people, albeit victims of some misfortune, so I asked them to join us.
The weather conditions were perfect. It usually rains every single night in Guatemala, but tonight the shy and mean clouds were hiding behind the mountains and volcanoes. For us it meant a clear night sky, which should only help us in sighting the red planet.
We drove the boat all the way to the main river, without needing a flash light. The night was so clear that we could - if we only knew how - enumerate all the constellations, planets and stars above us.
Gaby halted the boat and everyone just reclined on their seats, watching in silence the beautiful night panorama. But something wasn’t right: The moon was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Mars.
Someone pointed a faint yellow light coming from behind one of the mount. “Look there. I think the moon is behind that mountain over there!” The clock marked 00:27 and we studied the sky meticulously searching, in vain, for either heavenly body.
“There!...” - someone else exclaimed. Would the Mars be there? Everyone looked, in anticipation, at the pointed spot. - “…A shooting star!” – she said. It wasn’t just one but a shower of them.
Amazed, I managed to whisper a “Wow!”. I head “How pretty.” “Wow!” “Amazing” and other expressions but I didn’t dare to look away from the spectacle in case it would cease. I managed to count 23 shooting stars before losing count.
The clock marked 00:35 am now and we heard loud thunders in the distance. We decided to head back in silence, sad that Mars was not visible but with an expression of satisfaction to have witnessed the shooting stars.
Today, I decided to go to Livingston and check the online newspapers for photos. I thought that someone in Latin America would have seen it. To my surprise, the first page that I opened was one that set the record straight:
http://www.universetoday.com/2007/07/25/will-the-mars-look-as-big-as-the-moon-on-august-27-nope/
The whole thing was a practical joke, an April’s fool, a hoax. When I mentioned it to Gaby we burst our sides laughing at our naïveté. Suckers!
“If we wouldn’t gone out,” said Gaby “We wouldn’t have see the shooting stars. And that was a sighting.” Yes it was. It was such a sighting.
We’re still suckers, but happy suckers!
Ciao 4 now
~ Paulo ~
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