# Planets aligning on 5th May 2000: havoc? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2000, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313 "2000-04-28T11:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/21 "2000-04-28T19:55:00Z")
## I guess we have enough URLs to pretty well completely debunk the 5/5/2000 thingy, so I’ll post this link in the category of “Shameless Plug for Drewbert’s web site”: [http://www.morehead.unc.edu/articles/5may2k/](http://www.morehead.unc.edu/articles/5may2k/) “Lisa! In this house we OBEY the laws of Thermodynamics!” - Homer Simpson ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/22 "2000-04-28T20:12:00Z")
## I guess we have enough URLs to pretty well completely debunk the 5/5/2000 thingy, so I’ll post this link in the category of “Shameless Plug for Drewbert’s web site”: [http://www.morehead.unc.edu/articles/5may2k/](http://www.morehead.unc.edu/articles/5may2k/) “Lisa! In this house we OBEY the laws of Thermodynamics!” - Homer Simpson ---
**Author:** ![Cowboy\_Greg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Cowboy\_Greg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowboy_Greg)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/23 "2000-04-29T07:31:58Z")
It’s a load of boosh-wa. If you go to the totally cool [Solar System Live](http://www.fourmilab.ch/solar/solar.html) web site and set the date for 5 May 2000, you’ll see that the planets don’t even line up all that well, and as **Olentzero** and **jti** mentioned, the other planets are on the other side of the sun. _yawn_ I’m just worried sick about it, personally… zzzzzzzzzzz 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/24 "2000-04-29T22:28:33Z")
Olentzero wrote: > [@](#): > > I just wish we were on the same side of the Sun as they’re gonna be… that would be a helluva sight, for sure! Actually, that kind of thing happens pretty often… About a year and a half ago, there was a close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus (the two brightest)… A year before that, all of the visibles (and I think the Moon) were all in a line in the sky, like a string of pearls. Except for a few amature astronomers and outdoorsy types, nobody noticed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/25 "2000-04-29T23:48:27Z")
I don’t really believe anything will happen, but – just to be on the safe side in case there is a 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 chance of something happening, I mean science is not infallible – LET’S ALL PARTY LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW!!! P.S. johnnyla, do you play Illuminati, too? ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/26 "2000-04-30T00:15:56Z")
I’ll certainly have a laugh at my credit card companies if it happens. Do I get to use the word “syzygy” for this? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/27 "2000-04-30T01:22:39Z")
Satan wrote: > [@](#): > > The planets must be alligned that day… It’s the day my divorce is finally official! 😃 Does Drain Bead know? 😉 BTW, the alignment of the planets **will** have devastating consequences world wide! I read about it in this book called _The Jupiter Effect_. … Oh, wait a minute, _The Jupiter Effect_ was about the devastation that was going to be wrought by the planetary alignment of 1982. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/28 "2000-04-30T04:23:22Z")
That’s right, of course there won’t be any devastation wrought by the planets aligning… …The devastation will be wrought by my battlestation, the Coma Quasar, which has enough firepower to destroy an entire fast-food chain!! Mwa-hahahahahaha-a-a-a!!! By the way, if anyone wants front row tickets to witness the annihilation of Starbucks, send me $50 and your address. Hurry! Tickets are going fast! ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/29 "2000-04-30T18:32:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > A year before that, all of the visibles (and I think the Moon) were all in a line in the sky, like a string of pearls. Except for a few amature astronomers and outdoorsy types, nobody noticed. > \*\* I remember that - or at least something around Dec 97/Jan 98 that was a close conjunction of the naked-eye planets. I was working at the time but I kept walking out the front door to look at it. Hell of a sight. Oh, for those of you who care, May 5th is also Karl Marx’ birthday. So we got a planetary lineup, Cinco de Mayo, and something for those of us who think May Day celebrations just aren’t enough. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/30 "2000-05-01T06:20:41Z")
In a few days, after May 5, those planets will emerge from the glare of the sun. Jupiter and Saturn move particularly close together, in the early morning. Then, they’ll move apart, and come back closer together for a while. It’ll be another twenty years before they come so close again (a fifth of a degree apart on Dec 21, 2020, I believe. Put it on your calendar.) [http://sentient.home.mindspring.com/dan/whatsupd.htm](http://sentient.home.mindspring.com/dan/whatsupd.htm) ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/31 "2000-05-01T06:23:17Z")
O yeh, it ought to be a nice early evening sight for Christmas, next year, too. ---
**Author:** ![Danielinthewolvesden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Danielinthewolvesden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danielinthewolvesden)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/32 "2000-05-01T10:48:19Z")
The Earth WILL be destroyed and civilization will come to an end, just as it has the last 978 times it was so predicted in the last 2000 years 😃 ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/33 "2000-05-01T11:53:35Z")
Incidentally, creationist Kent Hovind has stated that May 5 is the “target date” for the implementation of the New World Order’s world-domination plan. Also, the New World Order wishes to reduce the world’s population to less than 500 million people (less than 10% of the current population) by that date. The article that reported this gave a URL to watch the countdown, but it seems to be gone now. Maybe they realized it was getting too close and nothing had happened yet… ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/34 "2000-05-01T22:11:10Z")
im pretty sure there have been planetary alignments in the solar system in the past 4 billion years or so and look at the planets – they are still around, just whirling away, hiding aliens and the like… unless the last planetary alignment killed off the aliens hiding in mars… oh no! ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/35 "2000-05-01T22:24:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*By the way, if anyone wants front row tickets to witness the annihilation of Starbucks, send me $50 and your address. Hurry! Tickets are going fast! > \*\* There are **fourteen** Starbucks outlets within a five-block radius of the Los Angeles Public Library Downtown branch, which is where I do my posting.\* Do me a favor: Blow 'em up at night. \*Don’t take my word for it. Go to [http://www.mapblast.com](http://www.mapblast.com) and have it find all the Starbucks near 640 W. 5th St, Los Angeles, CA 90071. Anyone who thinks that planetary alignment is going to affect the Earth is goofy. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/36 "2000-05-02T01:52:49Z")
Not really! Here’s their reply to this burning question: [www.nasa.gov/newsinfo/alignment.html](http://www.nasa.gov/newsinfo/alignment.html) And their headline actually reads: “You’ll Have to Go to Work Next Week” ---
**Author:** ![Solemn1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Solemn1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solemn1)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/37 "2000-05-02T02:50:47Z")
Well, you would really think that the “End of the World” would get just a little more publicity than this whole “Y2K” dud. It’s a pretty sad sign about the state of our society when worrying whether all the electricity will go out or not is far greater than worrying that we’re all going to die. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/38 "2000-05-02T02:57:12Z")
Jab1 said: > [@](#): > > \*\*Not really! Here’s their reply to this burning question: > > [www.nasa.gov/newsinfo/alignment.html](http://www.nasa.gov/newsinfo/alignment.html) > > And their headline actually reads: “You’ll Have to Go to Work Next Week”\*\* You know, at first I thought, “Hey, those science guys have a sense of humor.” Then I thought, “Umm, no, probably not. Seems like they have a preponderous sense of duty.” ======== As far as the planetary alignment goes, I know I’ll help and try to pull my weight. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![SqrlCub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SqrlCub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SqrlCub)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/39 "2000-05-05T13:40:36Z")
Hijack allert. Hey Peyote Coyote, I play INWO. You should know by now that you shouldn’t actually say it’s name because the UFO’s who control the orbital mind control lasers that control Bill Clinton, the Clone Arrangers, The Pentagon, the MIB, and change the various New World Orders will come and get you and replace you with a clone. 😉 HUGS! Sqrl ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313/40 "2000-05-05T16:29:37Z")
Hey, welcome to the Afterlife, everyone! Funny, I thought it’d be a little more different… By the way, aseymayo, you really shouldn’t even need an excuse to use the word “syzygy” 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-aligning-on-5th-may-2000-havoc/11313.md?page=1)