According to Space.com, the tale of this hoax began in 2003, when an unknown source sent out an informative email about how Mars will have its closest approach to Earth in almost 60,000 years.

We urge our readers to dismiss reports claiming that Mars will look like the second moon in the sky as just a Hoax. Anyways, people have their way of making a big fuss over little matters but in spite of that, the rumor is quite a nice one, as it involves gazing at the stars, watching the night sky and admiring the scenery we see up above.

Honorary president Paul Andrew said: “The moon is around a quarter of a million miles away, while Mars is 140 million miles off”.

Mars also made a somewhat close approach to Earth in December 2007, as it was about 55 million miles from Earth.

As spectacular as a huge Mars would have looked like in the night sky, if it ever happens, well, the Earth will be screwed.

Snopes added that the Red Planet did have a second close encounter with Earth, in October 2005, but that it appeared 20 percent smaller than it had two years earlier.

Mars sometimes comes into view around late August, but it’s nowhere near as bright as an August full moon. We do not live in Tatooine (okay, I know Tatooine had two suns not moons but it’s the closest reference I can think of).

Mars will be more visible in September, but as a tiny bright dot over the horizon that rises sometime around dawn. But people are bombarded with information and stories online, and a gut response of “That’s cool!” is all it takes to click “Share”, he said.

The picture that accompanied the “Mars Spectacular” email of 2003, which sparked the recurring Mars Hoax. Despite the risks, it seems inevitable that a manned mission to Mars will take place. Fans gnashed their teeth when Pluto lost its status as a planet in 2006 – a scientific nomenclature decision that drew more attention than any other, except perhaps the ongoing debate over Brontosaurus versus Apatosaurus.

“Mars is the easy one, I think”, he said.

Robot explorers are already there, leaving tracks in the red dust and gathering data for scientists safe on planet Earth. [Why We Love Mars]. Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles” and movies like the upcoming Ridley Scott film “The Martian” keep Mars in the public eye. But astronomers quickly pointed out that the human shape is actually just a rock that is only a few inches high, but positioned very close to the camera.

So not only was the Mars not as big as the moon last night, it was more hard to see it than it usually is.