Rare Planetary Line-Up On May 14

[Guest guest]

I think Eve mentioned this the other day, but this is from today's

paper:

 

Chennai, April 18 - Celestial bodies will stage a spectacular show on

May 14, when six planets of the solar system, along with the Sun and

the Moon, would position themselves along a grand row in the sky as

climax to a rare grouping-up that began early this month.

 

Visible to the naked eye, the planets, which started clustering

together in the first week of this month, would remain in the same

orbit till the third week of May.

 

However, the climax of this rare celestial event, last seen 62 years

ago, would be staged on May 14, when six planets (including Earth)

would group together in a row, presenting a dazzling display 33 degree

in the sky.

 

The planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn could be seen in

the western firmament during sunset, according to Tamil Nadu Science

and Technology Centre executive director M Sarguru Moorthy.

 

Mercury would be visible just above the Sun, above it a very brilliant

Venus. A little above it would be the 'faint' Mars, and above it would

be Saturn.

 

At present, the planets appear one after the other just after sunset.

While Mercury would set half-an-hour after sunset, Saturn would be

visible till 2130 hrs.

 

The Moon is also visible in the cluster and would be moving out of the

group tomorrow and return to the trajectory on the day of climax _ May

14.

 

B M Birla Planetarium (Chennai) Deputy Director S Soundararaja Perumal

said the phenomenon was last witnessed in 1940 and would be next seen

in September 2040.

 

"Though all the planets of the solar system clustered together last

year, the phenomenon could not be observed as it was in the direction

of the Sun," he said.

 

The planetarium here is making observations of this event and would

also be organising a special sky observation day on April 22,

coinciding with the World Astronomy Day.

 

The programme would be jointly organised by the TanAstro Association

and the Birla Planetarium.

 

The public could witness the rare celestial event through three

celestorn telescopes that would be set up by the planetarium.

 

On June 3, the orbit of Venus and Jupiter would come very close to

each other which would be visible in the Western overhead.

 

This event of aesthetic beauty could be best witnessed from open

spaces like beaches.

 

The planetarium officials here have a word or two for rumour mongers:

"The clustering of the planets have no negative implications on the

Earth."

 

Source:

http://news.sify.com/cgi-bin/sifynews/news/content/news_fullstory.jsp?

BV_SessionID=@@@@1072038351.1019176612@@@@&BV_EngineID=cadcdkhjmggibem

gcfkmcgedng.0&article_oid=11258581&page_no=1

[Guest guest]

Also read the last few sentences from the hndustantimes.com

 

The five brightest planets visible from Earth have lined up in plain sight

to form a spectacular celestial array that won't be seen again until 2040.

Through the next four weeks, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn and Venus will

appear tightly clustered in the Western sky. They will be visible in the

evening with the naked eye.

 

"The five naked-eye planets are converging in one part of the sky and from

now until mid-May you can see all five at one glance, which is pretty

unusual," said John Mosley, an astronomer at the Griffith Observatory in Los

Angeles.

 

Each evening, the alignment will assume different shapes, as the five

planets take their orbital paths around the sun. The planets orbit in the

same plane, like grooves in a phonograph record, only at different distances

from the sun.

 

Similar bunchings occur every 20 years or so, though they are not always

visible. The last they were this visible was in 1940.

 

In May 2000, the five planets formed a tighter bunch but were so close to

the sun that they were washed out by its glare.

 

In 2004, they will appear together again in the night sky, but will be

spread over a much wider area, said J Kelly Beatty, executive editor of Sky

& Telescope magazine.

 

Doomsayers are likely to see some dark meaning in what astronomers say is

purely a celestial coincidence.

 

In the months before the May 2000 lineup, some thought it foretold

widespread catastrophe. In February 1954 BC, a similar alignment led the

Chinese to restart their calendar at year 0, Mosley said.

[Guest guest]

Watched it last night, beautiful. tonight as well, look at western

horizon after sunset and you will see all five planets and moon in

line tilting left in sky the planets do not twinkle.

-

devi_bhakta

Thursday, April 18, 2002 9:05 AM

Rare Planetary Line-Up On May 14

I think Eve mentioned this the other day, but this is from today's

paper:Chennai, April 18 - Celestial bodies will stage a spectacular

show on May 14, when six planets of the solar system, along with the

Sun and the Moon, would position themselves along a grand row in the

sky as climax to a rare grouping-up that began early this

month.Visible to the naked eye, the planets, which started clustering

together in the first week of this month, would remain in the same

orbit till the third week of May.However, the climax of this rare

celestial event, last seen 62 years ago, would be staged on May 14,

when six planets (including Earth) would group together in a row,

presenting a dazzling display 33 degree in the sky.The planets

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn could be seen in the western

firmament during sunset, according to Tamil Nadu Science and

Technology Centre executive director M Sarguru Moorthy.Mercury would

be visible just above the Sun, above it a very brilliant Venus. A

little above it would be the 'faint' Mars, and above it would be

Saturn.At present, the planets appear one after the other just after

sunset. While Mercury would set half-an-hour after sunset, Saturn

would be visible till 2130 hrs.The Moon is also visible in the

cluster and would be moving out of the group tomorrow and return to

the trajectory on the day of climax _ May 14.B M Birla Planetarium

(Chennai) Deputy Director S Soundararaja Perumal said the phenomenon

was last witnessed in 1940 and would be next seen in September

2040."Though all the planets of the solar system clustered together

last year, the phenomenon could not be observed as it was in the

direction of the Sun," he said.The planetarium here is making

observations of this event and would also be organising a special sky

observation day on April 22, coinciding with the World Astronomy

Day.The programme would be jointly organised by the TanAstro

Association and the Birla Planetarium.The public could witness the

rare celestial event through three celestorn telescopes that would be

set up by the planetarium.On June 3, the orbit of Venus and Jupiter

would come very close to each other which would be visible in the

Western overhead.This event of aesthetic beauty could be best

witnessed from open spaces like beaches.The planetarium officials

here have a word or two for rumour mongers: "The clustering of the

planets have no negative implications on the Earth." Source:

http://news.sify.com/cgi-bin/sifynews/news/content/news_fullstory.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1072038351.1019176612@@@@&BV_EngineID=cadcdkhjmggibemgcfkmcgedng.0&article_oid=11258581&page_no=1To

from this group, send an email

to:shakti_sadhnaaYour use of

Groups is subject to the