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Space Science

Spectacular 5 Planet Lineup Visible This Month 25

Posted by michael from the under-a-wide-and-starry-sky dept.
MartinB writes "Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are lining up in order of distance from the Sun at the end of April, according to The BBC. They'll be visible without a telescope to observers in the Northern Hemisphere from 20th April."
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Spectacular 5 Planet Lineup Visible This Month More

Spectacular 5 Planet Lineup Visible This Month

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  • The really interesting thing about this (Score:4, Interesting)

    by PhysicsGenius ( 565228 ) <`moc.oohay' `ta' `rekees_scisyhp'> on Wednesday April 03, 2002 @03:40PM (#3278746)
    Is that they are lining up, as the submitter notes, "in order of distance from the Sun". Planetary lineups occur frequently (about once a fortnight if I remember my astronomy classes) but what happens is that the lineup will be something like "mars, neptune, jupiter, venus"--out of order, see? Lining up in order is a pretty rare occurence, kind of like partial vs total eclipses of the sun.

  • oh no!!! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Transcendent ( 204992 )
    the apocalypse is here!!! we're all gonna die!!!
    • I actually remember seeing a discovery channel show on this lineup a few years ago. There are apparently conspiracy theorists who believe that the lineup of these planets will put enough gravitational pull on the Earth that the crust will loosen from the mantel and be able to shift around very easily, causing massive tital waves like in the movie "Deep Impact"
      • The Discovery channel show you saw wasn't talking about this lineup, but one from a few years ago. From the article:

        A similar arrangement of planets happened two years ago but was not visible from Earth because of the position of the Sun.

        It was accompanied by scare stories that our planet could be pulled off its path or struck by extraordinary tides.
      • There are apparently conspiracy theorists who believe that the lineup of these planets will put enough gravitational pull on the Earth that the crust will loosen from the mantel and be able to shift around very easily, causing massive tital waves like in the movie "Deep Impact"

        Isn't that Ed Yourdon's new book?
  • Doesn't this mean some demon or other is about to awaken? Or maybe I've just read too many comic books...

  • Too early (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03, 2002 @04:55PM (#3279350)
    The show starts around April 18 and lasts a month. I may even try to track the planets myself by taking a few 8-sec-exposure pictures during that interval (no telescope required).

    So I sincerely hope that Slashdot will run this as a main page story when it starts, but an April 3rd annoucement is just too early. Mercury is currently on the wrong side of the Sun! Give it two more weeks.
    • Living in Chicago, I don't expect to really appreciate this as much as if I lived outside the bright lights of the city.

      Advance warning gives me time to begin scoping out the best web sites for observations and to see what the local planetarium [adlerplanetarium.org] has to offer.

      So yeah, this is a bit early for most people. But I, for one, am glad to know this ahead of time.

  • bah! i've seen this already... (Score:3, Funny)

    by spike666 ( 170947 ) on Wednesday April 03, 2002 @05:13PM (#3279469) Journal
    Theres great footage of this event in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. if i had my dvd and player i'd tell you the timecode.

    now i just need to round up my illuminati buddies and head off to siberia...
  • I remember seeing this "documentary" about how lining up of the planets in year 200x would cause the end of the world. Massive tidal forces would cause huge earthquakes, which would kill millions all over the world. I was pretty freaked out after I saw it. But hey, I was like 7 years old!

  • If a syzygy is three celestial bodies lined up collinearly, what is five? Syzygytyly?

    Obviously I know that they are not actuallu collinear, they only appear to be from Earth's perspective...

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