One woman was weeping so badly it was hard to understand her. She was practically on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, nothing happened. There were no severe earthquakes, no devastating floods, no mass destruction. With no planet-wide disaster to spoil the day, millions of onlookers enjoyed the solar eclipse .
History shows that planetary alignments are harmless.
In fact, alignments like the one in 1962 and in 2000 are fairly common. The five naked-eye planets cluster together in the sky within a circle 25 degrees or less in diameter once every 57 years, on average. The next time it will happen is September 8, 2040. The 2040 grouping will include Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the crescent Moon. Many people believe that when planets are aligned their gravity and tidal forces are magnified, leading to extraordinary effects here on Earth.