in 2000? It's an astronomical fact that the planets all line up (in relation to the Sun) on May 5, 2000. Many Physistists (sp?) believe that this gravitational pull will worsen the 11-yaer Solr Storm cycle we're going to have to endure this year. Any thoughts/predictions/insights?

-- Think It (Through@Pollies.Duh), January 13, 2000

Answers

My prediction: All of the planets will not line up on 5/5. 5 of them, however, will...

...and it will have no effect whatsoever on the strength of the Solar Max.

I will gladly sell you a pair of gravity boots, however, if you are convinced that you might need them...

-- Steve (hartsman@ticon.net), January 13, 2000.

Steve, . . . just just to be clear . . . the 5 are (correct me if I'm wrong) MVEMJ (i.e. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars & Jupiter - the first 5 (obviously (if you have any understanding about gravity) with the most gravitaional pull vis-a-vis our star (the Sun))). Really interested in the gravity boots . . . couple quick questions: 1) Are you located in a provincial sales-tax-free-zone (i.e. Alberta, I don't want to pay too much for these boots!), 2) Will they (the gravity boots) keep me firmly planted to my acre-and-a-half when the US National Guard invades my country (Canada) to force us to continue providing you power to you (did you know that Detroit, Buffalo, Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis (I could go on and on accounting for tens of millions of Americans) couldn't survive half a week without Canadian power?) ? 3)Do you think that we haven't written in codes to disable it? God Save The Queen!

-- Think It (Through@Pollies.Duh), January 13, 2000.

These "alignments" are normally

1) The planets VISUALLY aligned in a line, if you look at them from your backyard, and not PHYSICALLY aligned

2) A bunch of planets sort of vaguely all on the same side of the sun, and not really in a straight line.

And most importantly, if all the planets WERE aligned in a perfectly straight line, absolutely nothing noticeable would happen to the Earth.

-- John H Krempasky (johnk@dmv.com), January 13, 2000.

John, I love your posts, you're great. Gotta disagree with you on this, however. May 5, 2000 the closest 5 planets will be PHYSICALLY alligned (an astronomical fact, sorry no supporting link handy) during the worst solar storm period (regardless of the gravitational pull of MVEMJ) since the advent of Modern Man (definately way worse than the 1989 solar storms that shut down Hydro Quebec (affecting approx. 2 million electrical customers). It could disable electrons globally like our worst case Y2K Jan. 1 scenario.

-- Think It (Through@Pollies.Duh), January 13, 2000.

Have you heard, it's in the stars Next July we collide with Mars. Well, did you ever.... What a swell party this is!

-- Buck (nada@rollover.gov), January 13, 2000.

As Above, So Below

-- Teiwaz (StormHolder@hotmail.com), January 13, 2000.

oh naysayer and correcter John--how can planets be visually but not physically aligned? you'd need some pretty tricky film for that?

-- tt (cuddluppy@aol.com), January 13, 2000.

Just checked my sky chart. Jupiter, Saturn, Mars,
Venus, Mercury, Sun and Moon will be in a tight
cluster on 2000-05-05. This is not a perfect
alignment but a pretty tight cluster. IMHO that
the total gravitational pull of all the planets
together if they were in a line is only 1/11 of
the difference in gravitational pull of the moon
between apogee and perigee.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), January 13, 2000.

Harmonic Con(game)vergence

"The total pull of all the planets combined is 0.017, not even 2% of the Moon's pull!"

Yeah, yeah, I know. "But the storms!" Get over it. Solar max will be bad enough with inventing reasons for it to be worse.

Also from that site: "You may notice that the planets are not lined up all that well on either of those dates. Note that in the year 2000 map, there is a loose alignment of planets, but on the opposite side of the Sun, as I noted above. I'd cancel the planetary disaster insurance if I were you."

Translation? Even if you want to factor in the 'convergence' of planets, they'll be pulling the electromagnetic wind in the same direction as the sun. Assuming their gravity will even Have an effect, how do you see this as making things Worse? We'll be hit harder because the wind will be (presumably) going Slower???

-- harl (harlanquin@aol.hell), January 13, 2000.

Two separate, unrelated occurrences; the sunspot cycle is on a *rough* 11-year cycle, and has varied in intensity since it was first noticed around 1700. The peak of solar activity may happen now, May 5th, November, or May 5th of next year.

The convergence/conjunction/whatever of the planets has more significance for those interested in astrology. Although having Mars and Jupiter in the same part of the sky is kinda cool.

-- Just (anotherbuckeye@columbus.org), January 13, 2000.

As a novice astrologer, and a long time lurker here, I have been curious about that alignment effects, May 2-5, Uranus and mercury represent technology, Uranus (tech)and Neptune (confusion) in Aquarius would then square(difficulty) that alignment in taurus(valued material goods). From the skyward view, I was far more concerned about Y2K effects in Feb-May, than anything we've seen,yet. Not to say that it would have the same effect on everybody equally. I would be interested if any other stargazers are lurking here and what they think obout it?

-- robert j (crandalls@cableone.net), January 13, 2000.

The whole Solar Max question is one I've been lurking and watching to see begin to surface. While I've found some interesting sites offering info generally on-topic (e.g., milleniumgroup.com and millenium-ark.net), what I've not found is detailed information on what prep.s might be appropriate to address which probable events.

For example, if a CME (coronal mass ejection) occurs, how much notice might we have (and from what source), and what immediate steps can be taken to shield, e.g., computer gear, automobiles, gensets? Will a lead safe shield backup tapes?

For example, are CME's the primary threat (besides power shutdowns), or are other high-energy particles/events also to be considered?

For example, could we potentially see similiar effects to what would be produced by a high-altitude thermonuclear (forget the acronym, but essentially huge disruption of everything electromagnetic for hundreds of miles)?

BTW, as someone still fixing those critters that don't officially exist (on small to mid-range systems), I have to offer these comments:

First, the database corruption that I feel is occurring but that has NOT hung or crashed applications or whole systems has to be having an effect on other applications and systems utilizing that data, sometimes well into the future. No one will admit it, until truly horrible, for two reasons -- liability and customer confidence.

Second, I sure wish I was much more knowledgable on the embedded's, so as to make better evaluations on my own. Keep warily looking over my shoulder, you know...

Third, Harbor Guy, please keep it coming. Intuition tells me to pay a whole lot of attention to what you're reporting. The only non-threatening reason I can come up with for what you are seeing is that inventory buildup during the Fall was an awful lot larger than we've been told. Now, if we just had some more major ports reporting, and had a much better look into the rail situation...

Fourth, I offer my heartfelt thanks to all of you non-troll contributors, to you moderators (Night Driver, you watching the IMSA vs. CART events in Cleveland?), and to folks such as Phil and Ed Yourdon and Paula Gordon, and so, so many others. Succinctly, you all have been truly, truly critical in helping me choose and then take steps to help cover my loved ones. Thank you again!

-- Redeye in Ohio

-- Redeye In Ohio (cannot@work.com), January 13, 2000.

This site has some information on the solar situation including daily updates and historical graphs. http://www.dxlc.com/solar/ Based on the graphs, it appears that peak solar activity will not occur for at least several more months.

-- Danny (dcox@ix.netcom.com), January 13, 2000.

Redeye,
CME events happen all the time, watch the sites below to get an indication of their status.
We usually have 2 to 3 days notice before the wavefront propagates out to Earth's orbit.
The "Things to watch for" are M5+ GOES X-ray flux levels and proton flares.

The site Danny mentioned above:
Solar Terrestrial Activity Report


3-day Satellite Environment Monitor from SEC
Watch the Bars, if they go strongly red then satellites are in danger, if it maxes out then ground based interference is *possible*.
The top plot is proton flux, if the sun has a massive proton flare this will be the place to watch for possible Earth impact.

For Real Time plots this is the best site: 6-hour GOES 8 & 10 X-ray Flux Monitor

Great Picture of solar activity: LAST SXT NOAA AR First light


-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), January 13, 2000.

Danny and PosImpact, thank you both for your suggestions. I'll watch them for awhile and see what I can learn along the way.

-- Redeye in Ohio (cannot@work.com), January 14, 2000.