Abstract
HELIOCENTRIC GROUPING OF PLANETS IN DECEMBER. —The astrologers have been amusing themselves and alarming the timid by predicting violent cosmic convulsions as the result of the planetary grouping on December 17. The actual position is sufficiently interesting to warrant a note. During the five days December 13 to 17, six of the eight major planets v ill be within a range of 26° in heliocentric longitude, while Uranus will be in the same line on the other side of the sun, the earth alone standing out. In the following list the two longitudes given refer to noon on December 13 and 17 respectively:—Mercury, 130° to 154°; Venus, 135° to 143°; Earth, 79° to 84°; Mars, 152° to 154°; Jupiter, 129°; Saturn, 155$; Uranus, 331°; and Neptune, 130°. There were similar scares when the four giant planets were all near perihelion together. We may safely predict that they will be as baseless now as they were then.
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 104, 361 (1919). https://doi.org/10.1038/104361a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/104361a0