Quote Originally Posted by mrdevious
I've heard that in 2012 (I'm pretty sure it was 2012) a crap load of the planets will align, which would cause some real natural disasters on earth.
I don't really expect anything of the sort to happen. It reminds me of all the doomsday prophecies about May 5, 2000, when there was a planetary alignment. There were all sorts of websites predicting that the Earth's magnetic field would not be able to withstand the alignment and the poles would reverse, causing all sorts of catastrophes like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods and so forth. But, as it turns out, the gravitational pull of other planets has an incredibly minute effect on ours, especially when compared to such objects as the Sun and the Moon. That's why, for instance, the tides are determined by the position of the Sun and the Moon, but the other planets' effects on the tides are not measurable. If they can't even manage to cause a slight variation in the tides, it's certain that they won't be able to cause any natural disasters.