All in a row

[WebDog]

Does any one know the date where all the planets are in fairly straight line?

[Paul]

No, but here's a lineup of some of Jupiter's moons:

http://www.geocities.com/doctorshnub/io ... nymede.jpg

It might not be possible to get the FOV small enough for a comparable shot of a solar-system lineup... *shrug*

[chris]

I can't seem to get to the picture . . . GeoCities seems to think it's not there. Is the URL right?

--Chris

[Rassilon]

Sometimes when your behind a firewall...some sites will not allow you to view pictures remotely...or it could be the firewall you may or may not be under...

[guest]

Planetary allignment happend around May 2001

[mediatiger]

On the 5th of May 2000 the 5 visible planets met within 26°.
Especially nice is the Moon with Saturn, Mars + Jupiter on the 6th of April.

In modern history the best alignment of the 5 planets+Moon+Sun (which means it was in fact invisible)
was on the 4th Feb 1962 (all within 17°).
12 days later there was a horrible flood that killed many people in Germany. Can you imagine the headlines of certain newspapers?

But the best alignment of those 7 celestial objects occurred on the 15th Sept 1186 within 10°.

Well, I hope you have fun trying it out.
Tell me if you should find better alignments.

mediatiger

[Matt McIrvin]

Here is a good page from Phil Plait's "Bad Astronomy" site about planetary alignments:

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planets.html

At the bottom, there are links to several other pages about the 2000 "alignment," some with diagrams (but you can generate your own with Celestia!)

[Guest]

Here is a good page from Phil Plait's "Bad Astronomy" site about planetary alignments:

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/planets.html

At the bottom, there are links to several other pages about the 2000 "alignment," some with diagrams (but you can generate your own with Celestia!)

[chris]

On the 5th of May 2000 the 5 visible planets met within 26°.
Especially nice is the Moon with Saturn, Mars + Jupiter on the 6th of April.

In modern history the best alignment of the 5 planets+Moon+Sun (which means it was in fact invisible)
was on the 4th Feb 1962 (all within 17°).
12 days later there was a horrible flood that killed many people in Germany. Can you imagine the headlines of certain newspapers?

But the best alignment of those 7 celestial objects occurred on the 15th Sept 1186 within 10°.

Well, I hope you have fun trying it out.
Tell me if you should find better alignments.

mediatiger

Where did you look to find this information? It's pretty neat that it's possible to reproduce the 1186 event in Celestia . . . the orbits do explode after 40000 years or so, but it appears that they're fairly accurate within a few thousand years.

--Chris

[Sum0]

It'd be nice to recreate the bit in the film 2001...
Why exactly do the orbits (except for Pluto, and Neptune has some interesting Spirography death throes) mess up in the future?

[Bill Meegan]

September 14th 1186 is the date of so-called perfect alignment or so say the first Encyclopedia Brittanica published 1771.

I have seen Sept 15th and the 23rd suggested also in that year. Can an alignment be said to be in place for more than a week. That is not possible with different planets moving at different speeds.

I do admit being a researcher in ancient mysteries and mytholgical lore that September 14th and 15th may have been used for mythological purposes. September 15th is the anniversary date of the Eleusinian mysteries and September 14th would be on the eve of such an anniversity. Also Dante Alighieri who wrote La Divina Commedia died exactly 135-years later to the date and this is coded into his epic poem. That date is also coded into the first eleven chapters of Genesis. This is why I suggest that it is a mytholigcal date rather than one in real time. September 14th 1321 happens to be a date that is synchronistic to the birth (June 1st 1265) and death dates of Dante Alighieri in relationship to the use of the Golden Ratio. The first swing of the Golden Ration set on March 15th 1300, which is the anniversary date of Julius Caesar death: the Ides of March. The date that Dante began writing his La Divina Commedia.

Planetary alignment (see the Mithraic mysteries) has the earmarks of being associated with the Kundalini: three and a half coiled serpent sitting dormant at the base of the spine. Even Dante in his Paradiso goes through the planetary alignment just before his epiphany of the Trinity. Even the Eleusinian mysteries had a ceremony for initiation that went in a circuit visiting the temples of the God (planets: Venus, Zeus, Saturn, Mars, etc., etc.) before they were ceased by the experience.

Though Astrology is a creation of mathematical permutation of the nine original degits it is used to augment the story of the Kundalini experience each human being, by birth, has a right to experience. That right has to be earned. In fact when the Kundalini rises it becomes the Ouroboro: Tail Eating Serpent, which circles back on itself starting the process of creation all over again by creating a new heaven and a new earth. In fact it is said that the Kundalini experience cleanses the mind of duality: false beliefs.

[Hungry4info]

Definitions of pseudoscience on the Web:

Scientifically testable ideas that are taken on faith, even if tested and shown to be false.
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072549238/student_view0/glossary.html

A set of ideas based upon theories put forth as scientific whether they are or not; based upon an authorative text rather than observation or empirical investigation.
http://www.thepeacefulplanet.com/glossary.html

Research that has the appearance of science but does not follow the scientific method, usually lacking peer review and repetition of observations by independent researchers.
http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/~hudon/ast ... ssary.html

A set or system of beliefs claiming to be "scientific" without the benefit of the scientific method used to make further inquiries that might suggest that the belief system is wrong in any particular way.
highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072486694/student_view0/glossary.html

an activity resembling science but based on fallacious assumptions
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Pseudoscience refers to any body of knowledge or practice which purports to be scientific or supported by science but which is judged by the mainstream scientific community to fail to comply with the scientific method.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience

[fsgregs]

The "Odds" or probability of orbiting planets aligning along the same approximate line (say ... +/- 1 degree) in a "grand conjunction", is easy to calculate but when done, will surprise you. Assuming the planets were all following the ecliptic plane within 1 degree horizontally. How often would they all "line up" (+/- 1 degree)? Try the calculation and see what your answer is for four planets, five ... seven ... or nine.

You will be BLOWN away!



I'll post the answer here soon.

Frank