- According to a viral publication on social networks, an exceptional phenomenon occurred in space on July 7: all of the planets aligned on the same axis.
- Such alignment, often depicted in books, is not possible.
- On the other hand, the planets are currently grouped in the same area of space.
In astronomical jargon, this is called a complete parade of planets. Concretely, it is the moment when the eight planets of the solar system (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) are all aligned on the same side of the sun.
According to several viral posts posted on Facebook in the past few days, this event took place on July 7. And it was better not to miss it, because the next complete parade would not take place before 2161.
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First of all, what does a “complete parade” correspond to? An alignment of all the planets on the same side of the sun can happen because they all revolve around the sun, but not at the same speed. Except that it should not be understood in the sense of an Indian file of spheres located one behind the other. “You can't see them all in the same shot. It is as if you put the sun on a flat table, the planets would not all be on this table. Some would be tilted above the table plane, and others below, "said Gilles Dawidowicz, secretary general of the Astronomical Society of France.
A rather banal astronomical phenomenon
Besides, rather than the alignment described in Facebook posts, we should rather speak of grouping of planets. This is nothing exceptional, according to Pascal Descamps, from the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Calculation of Ephemerides (IMCCE).
"At the moment, all the planets can be seen at the same time in the sky not far from the ecliptic (more commonly known as the zodiac). So, if you look at the sky around 4am, you will find, in order of appearance, from east to west via the south: Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Mars, Neptune, Saturn and Jupiter. "Says the researcher.
But is it really an event that is visible only once a century or almost? "To say that the next deadline will be in 2161 is wrong. This grouping is not uncommon and remains visible in the sky for many weeks. But it is only visible for a very precise time slot ”, continues Pascal Descamps.
If the phenomenon therefore exists well, there is also nothing to jump to the ceiling. “It's like having a series of cars lined up on the highway at one point. On the astronomical level, that will not change anything, "concludes Didier Carlier, president of the astronomical club of the Lille region. In short, a lot of noise in space for not much or almost.
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