A new spin on an old portent The 20 th century added a new angle to planetary conjunction doom-saying by suggesting that the gravitational pull of the planetary lineup is hazardous to the Earth. This 1974 book predicted a major Californian earthquake as the indirect result of the 1982 planetary lineup. This planetary alignment in the year 2000 has again given rise to predictions that the alignment will cause gravitational and tidal stresses on the earth and the Sun. These, in turn, are supposed to generate earthquakes, floods, volcanoes and ice, the ultimate disaster. Not to worry.
Gravity falls off dramatically with distance.
Considering that the Moon's tug on the Earth varies by 23 per cent in the course of a month, the effect of this alignment of planets will be negligible. Since the planets are clustered in the light of the Sun, there are only fleeting chances to see the planets at dawn or sunset this month. Mercury is lost the sun's light for the first part of May, but will become visible at sunset, low in the northwest, by the 20 th . By May 31, Mercury will set about an hour after the sun. Mercury will be brighter than first magnitude, and a lovely sight by the end of the month.