planetary line ups

[vanilla]

SInce there are 5 planets close enough to each other (we went to the Planetarium last night and saw Jupiter!),
has there ever been a time when ALL the planets were really close as viewed from earth?
In the past, or in the future?
How could i find out?

[Ringo]

Look up syzygy.

[bibliophage]

Cecil Adams on Would alignment of the planets cause catastrophe?

… during the alleged “superconjunction,” the planets would actually be spread out over a sun-centered arc of some 95 degrees.

If, for the sake of convenience, we ignore the effect of Pluto (an eminently ignorable planet, it has always seemed to me), we see that the planets have occupied far smaller sections of sky before-- for example, 83 degrees in 1817, and 46 degrees in 1307

[Enola_Straight]

Everyone thinks that such an alignment would either overbalance the momentum of the solar system or create some kind of gravity laser that would cause earthquakes.

Nah.

You get more gravitational effects from lunar tides.