Topic: Daily Drip
As many of us have heard that the planets will be in alignment on December 21, 2012. There's also people foretelling disaster on that date, including a movie about what would likely happen on that date. While I was interested in seeing the event, I remained a bit skeptical about what would happen. So, I actually bother to take a figurative look into the future.
Using Stellarium (www.stellarium.org) & Sioux City, Iowa as my reference point, I jumped the clock to Midnight CST of December 21, 2012 in order to see things for myself. Since the majority of the "Good Stuff" is under the horizon, I disabled the ground option (in effect, make the Earth transparent) to get a better view.
(Click on the images for a full-scale view)
As you can see in these first pictures (line added to the right for greater visibility) that the planets in the inner solar system (Sun to Mars) are practically in a straight line. HOWEVER, if you flattened out the image compared to the azimuthal grid, it wouldn't be perfectly straight.
(Click on the images for a full-scale view)
When pulling it out to the extreme (going to a 235 degree field of view), adjusting the position to get all the planets in view & placing a marker on Pluto (I still call it a planet), as it's not visible from Earth. Again, adding a line to the right picture (actually 3) to play "Connect the Planets"... granted I accidentally used the moon instead of Uranus, which would have given a straighter line between Jupiter & Pluto. Compared to the smaller view above, this line is "straighter" in a 3-D sense.
If you want to repeat my findings, feel free to pick up Stellarium yourself, set its clock to Midnight on December 21, 2012 (Stellarium has it's own clock, so DON'T MESS WITH YOUR COMPUTER'S CLOCK) & observing point to Sioux City, Iowa (it's a preset) as well as removing the ground & you'll see the planets at these azimuthal locations:
- Mercury -- Az +27° 2' 15" / Alt -67° 42' 56"
- Venus -- Az +41° 54' 36" / Alt -20° 15' 45"
- Earth -- NOT APPLICABLE (as you're on it, stupid)
- Mars -- Az +294° 19' 3" / Alt -54° 38' 29"
- Jupiter -- Az +217° 57' 27" / Alt +64° 28' 37"
- Saturn -- Az +67° 25' 47" / Alt -12° 11' 40"
- Uranus -- Az +263° 35' 52" / Alt +8° 40' 59"
- Neptune -- Az +275° 14' 48" / Alt -23° 9' 50"
- Pluto -- Az +324° 57' 43" / Alt -63° 44' 4"
Just so you're aware... Azimuth is the compass location, where 0° (& 360°) is North, 90° is East, 180° is South & 270° is West. Altitude is the viewing angle in relation to the horizon, where +90° is straight up, +45° is half-way up, 0° is on the horizon & the negatives are below the horizon.
Based on these figures, you should be able to see Jupiter in the SW & Uranus (& the Moon) just above the horizon in the west at midnight while everything else is below the horizon.
While it may look cool from Earth, it's a bit disappointing in my opinion as I was more expecting to see all the planets & the sun to be stacked on top of each other in relation to Earth. While my view wouldn't be as visually pleasing from Earth, but it would be one of the greatest chain eclipse in the solar system (as it would be an extremely rare event). However, it would require a crap load of mathematical calculations through a space simulator like Celestia to get the exact date & times that we would most likely never see in roughly 10 or even 100 generations... & by then, the human race would most likely be traveling through space to care about it.
Even though people are using the Inca calendar as a reference to "The End of the World", I chalking this garbage up to the same type of panic from the Y2K bug. If the Inca civilization was still alive today, they would most likely have made a new "5th World" calendar that would run beyond December 21, 2012. The Inca's most likely went as far as felt was necessary to cover the major their needs at the time (much like the computer programs did by using only 2-digit years instead of 4-digits in the 80's & early 90's) & would take care of the issue when it got closer.
So when December 21, 2012 comes, feel free to enjoy the visual event... but don't get wrapped up in all the fear-mongering crap that the world's going to end.
