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. This seems reasonable. We can calculate the maximum tidal force that each planet has on the Earth. These values are shown in the table.
Tides decrease in intensity as the cube of the distance to the source of gravity.
If all the planets were to align perfectly with each one as close as possible to the Earth, their gravity would raise the ocean tides by just one twenty-fifth of one millimeter. Typical ocean tides on Earth caused by the Moon and Sun are thousands of times larger than that. Clearly, the contribution of the planets is entirely negligible, and it makes no difference to the Earth whether they are aligned or not. So, if you've already packed away your Y2K survival gear, don't worry. There's no planet-rending catastrophe in the offing.