Spectacular planet show promised

bbcnews.com ^ | 4-3-2003 | By BBC News Online's Helen Briggs

[RS]

"Astronomers say the rare grouping of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn may not be seen again for a century. "

"may not be seen..??.
C'mon guys, this is astronomy - you know exactly when this will happen again ... and again... and again

[RadioAstronomer]

Thought this may be of interest. :)

[PatrickHenry]

Thought this may be of interest.

But ... where's Uranus?

[Texaggie79]

Justin? That you?

[Nebullis]

I'm glad you pinged me!

Now I can prepare for the Pole Shift.

[blam]

LOL. Posted here also

[edwin hubble]

I remember the network info-persons enthusiastically hyping the "Jupiter Effect" during the alignment in the late 70's.

With trembling voice they foretold the earthquakes and tidal waves.

Well, every high tide should trigger end-of-the-world devastation by this calculation.

A person standing next to a 20 story building has greater gravitational attraction to the building than to the moon in the sky. And the planets pull on us less by factors of thousands.

[cmsgop]

FAR OUT MAN!!!!!!!!

[PJ-Comix]

Will I be able to hear the "2001: Space Odyssey" tune when I see the planets line up?

[fire and forget]

Thanks for the pings, past and present :)

[RadioAstronomer]

Now I can prepare for the Pole Shift.

ROTFLMAO!!! :-)

[RadioAstronomer]

Me too! LOL!!!

[southernnorthcarolina]

"Astronomers say the rare grouping of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn may not be seen again for a century."

"may not be seen..."??

C'mon guys, this is astronomy - you know exactly when this will happen again ... and again... and again.

We think alike. I was about to make a post similar to yours. But upon reflection, I think what we have here is an example of the difference between "British English" and "American English." The phrase "may not," in this case, I suspect, was intended to mean "shall not." The word "may" isn't always wishy-washy. For example, you might respond to a child's request to stay out until 2:00 AM with the words "you may not." In such a case, there's nothing equivocal about "may."

[RadioAstronomer]

But ... where's Uranus?

LOL!! Only post # 4. This and pole shifts! I can see where this thread is headed. :-)

[Verginius Rufus]

The story makes it sound like none of the planets can be seen without a telescope before April 20. In fact four of them are already easily visible in the West after sunset--Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Venus.

[longshadow]

Whot? Planets getting together?

This is proof that a Cosmic Conspiracy exists!

Call Mulder! Call Scully! Resurrect the Cigarette Man!

</Luddite Rant>

[RadioAstronomer]

I already pinged Scully! LOL

[edwin hubble]

Pole shifts...
The real topical question in this area involves Earth's inner core.
We know there is a "flipping" of the magnetic poles, about every million years, with no real pattern of periodicity.
Rather than a physical inversion of the core, it now appears that the 2,000 mile diameter solid iron inner core may be a "single crystal". It may invert its polarity without physically turning over.

How? We'll get back to you later on that.
The fascinating things in science are the current mysteries.

[VadeRetro]

The array of five planets will provide a planet watching opportunity that will not be repeated for 100 years.

So, if I'm 52 now, I'll be 152 next time. Maybe I'd better go for this one just in case. Won't be easy with all the mountains in my neighborhood. I'll have to look for a tall one with a good view west.