![]() ![]() As NASA says: “If all of the planets were to align perfectly with each other…their gravity would raise the ocean tides by just one twenty-fifth of one millimeter.” As environmental scientists would point out, we should worry a whole lot more about the effect of climate change on our tides and sea level than about the impact of extraterrestrial gravity. ![]() On a scale on which the influence of the Sun’s gravity on Earth-its so-called tidal force-is 1.0, the moon (much smaller but much closer) weighs in at 2.1. The farther away an object is, the less we feel its gravitational influence (a good thing, considering that a supermassive black hole sits at the center of our galaxy and yet its gravity does us no harm.) But gravity isn’t the only part of the equation. Jupiter’s gravity, for example, is more than 2.5 times that of Earth. It commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including Downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. A mask has to be worn at all times during the visit. Griffith Observatory is a facility in Los Angeles, California, sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in Los Angeles Griffith Park. ![]() The gravitational pull of the larger planets is indeed considerable. Griffith Observatory 2800 East Observatory Road Los Angeles, CA 90027 COVID-19 measures: Currently, the following measures are taken against the coronavirus: Visitors age 12 and older are required to show proof of vaccination and a valid ID. This yet again, gave rise to tales of gravitational destruction. 24, 2022, when all eight planets lined up in a horizon-to-horizon arc. Perhaps the most celebrated recent alignment took place on Dec. Astrological forecasts also saw the alignment as a sign of the coming of the End Times. On May 5, 2000, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn converged in a patch of sky less than 25 degrees across, leading to still more tales that the gravitational muscle of the seemingly clustered bodies would potentially tear the Earth in two. (The rumors also had it that existing sunspots, along with the somehow pernicious influence of Jupiter, were responsible for the 1918 flu pandemic.) Much more dire predictions were at large in 1919, when a similar arrangement of the planets led to widespread rumors that the phenomenon would lead to a rash of sunspots which would cause worldwide destruction at a scientifically sounding precise moment: Dec. As The Scotsman reports, astrologers are predicting that the current alignment could lead to impulsive behavior and “fiery disagreements” with loved ones this week. Modern astronomy notwithstanding, you don’t have to go back to the ancients to find people on whom planetary alignments have had much the same distressing effect they had on the woman at the Griffith Observatory, 61 years ago. That allowed the Voyager 2 spacecraft to barnstorm all four of them in what was called the Grand Tour of the outer solar system. One of the rare times multiple planets did align was back in the 1970s and 1980s, when the four gas giants-Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune-formed tidy and temporary ranks in deep space. ![]()
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