Every time that two or more planets congregate in the night sky, fear mongers crank up the volume on their predictions of doom. They say the combined gravity of the planets will cause everything from earthquakes and storms to boils and hangnails.

Don’t listen to them.

All of the planets are so small or so far away that their short-term effects on Earth are negligible.

Jupiter, the largest and heaviest planet in the solar system, is only one-tenth of one percent as massive as the Sun. And, on average, it’s about five times farther. When combined, those numbers tell us that Jupiter’s gravitational tug on Earth is just one-25,000th as strong as the Sun’s. The pull of the other planets is even weaker. So even if you lined up all of the planets in the same direction from Earth, their combined pull would be insignificant.

That’s not the case on longer terms, though. The gravity of Jupiter and Venus change the shape of Earth’s orbit and the planet’s tilt on its axis. Mars may play a role as well. That influence creates cycles of warmer and colder climate. But the cycles play out over tens of thousands of years or longer – not over days, weeks, or even centuries.

Planetary alignments are common. In fact, there’s one right now. Mars, Saturn, and Mercury are close together in the dawn twilight. But they’re so low in the sky that they’re tough to see. We’ll have more about their alignment tomorrow.

Script by Damond Benningfield