Solar System: Are all eight planets aligned? Science responds!

Solar System: Are all eight planets aligned?  Science responds!

Lunar and solar eclipse It is considered an alignment between the Earth, Sun, and Moon, but alignments can occur with different cosmic beings throughout the universe. The more celestial bodies there are, the more difficult it is for “alignments” to occur. In fact, some scientists suggest that the formation of eight planets in a row is an extremely rare event.

Before discussing the topic, it is important to clarify that the planets of the solar system are never placed in a perfect straight line, as can be seen in many illustrations depicting the array of celestial bodies.

Just as in a total solar eclipse, when the Moon, Earth, and Sun are aligned in such a way that a natural satellite blocks the Sun's light, The alignment of the planets depends entirely on the observational point of view.

Since nothing is impossible, the scientific community claims that the perfect alignment of the eight planets is an event that is unlikely to happen in the next billion years. What could happen is that The planets lie roughly aligned in space, but they are not in a perfectly straight line. After all, everyone's orbital movements are a little different.

I can also say that planetary alignment does not cause any kind of negative feedback on the planet, such as increased earthquakes or atmospheric problems.

“The only impact on life on Earth during the alignment is the wonderful display visible in the sky. There is no risk of increased earthquakes or anything like that. The change in The gravitational force that Earth would experience due to any planetary alignment is negligible.” Live sciences.

Alignment of the eight planets in the solar system

As mentioned earlier, there is no such thing as perfect alignment, it is like an illusion. In addition to the planets not being aligned in a straight line, the distance between the planets is millions of kilometers.; However, they seem to be compatible on some occasions. This means that if an astronaut traveled to another region of space, he would not notice any type of planetary alignment.

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Another such event It happened in 2022, when the eight planets seemed to align; The illusion made them appear as if they were in a 'straight line', but it was just an approximation of their alignment in space. On that occasion, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn can be seen with the naked eye simultaneously, while Uranus and Neptune can be seen through binoculars or telescopes.

For observers from Earth, the perspective is that they are actually in a perfect line, but cosmic objects are just on the same celestial longitude. In reality, They appear to be close together during the event only because of the differences between their orbits and the viewpoint of observers on the Earth's surface. Astrological alignment is also known as planetary conjunction.

The perfect alignment of the planets in the solar system, as shown in the illustration above, has never happened and will never happen.source: Getty Images

The average occurrence of planetary conjunctions may vary in relation to the degrees of planetary alignment. If the alignment was just one degree away from the sky, this event could take about 13.4 trillion years.

For example, Parkhouse explains A 3.6 degree alignment occurs approximately every 396 billion yearsIn other words, this never happened and should not happen, as the Sun will turn into a red dwarf star in 5 billion years.

“When astronomers use words like 'planetary alignment,' they don't mean a literal alignment. They just mean that some of the planets are in the same general area of ​​the sky. They're in the same general area of ​​the sky. They're all in the same place,” said Christopher S. Byrd, assistant professor of physics at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU). ), this type of “alignment” rarely occurs with all planets, but rather occurs with two or three planets at the same time.

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As Baird explains in a WTAMU post, the closest planets will reach a true alignment It will be May 6, 2492. During this phenomenon, the celestial bodies in the solar system will be in the same region of the sky, aligned 180 degrees. – From the point of view of an observer on the ground.

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By Andrea Hargraves

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