It's that time of year again, when the emails and powerpoint presentations start going around about Mars being as big or as bright as the Full Moon on August 27th. I've received several emails from people asking about it in the last couple of weeks.

It's a hoax and email spam. You can safely ignore and delete it, and don't propogate it by forwarding it onto people :)

Read more at the following article:

Mars will NOT be as Big as the Full Moon on August 27th!

In other news:

• A new Review has been published, for the Meade 12" Deluxe Lightbridge.
• IYA2009 Events for May can be found in this thread.
• The South Pacific Star Party (SPSP17), hosted by the ASNSW is on from the 22nd-24th May. It's a fantastic time under brilliant (and cold) dark skies! Register soon and I'll hopefully see you there!
• A new "Radio Astronomy and Spectroscopy" sub-forum has been created for all discussions of Radio Astronomy, Spectroscopy and Variable Star Observing.
• Jupiter is getting very high before dawn now, and it's a great time to get up early to observe it. Any time between 5am to dawn will be best.
• Venus is shining brilliantly in the East just before Dawn. This is the time of year when I can imagine there's a lot more UFO reports than normal! It's above and to the left of Mars, the much dimmer red star visible about 20deg above the horizon.

That's all for this week, keep looking up!