Planets line up, but it’s not cosmic chaos

-- Amy R. Spurgeon

NEWPORT-MESA -- A trio of neighboring planets were the stars of the night

sky Thursday, lining up for the world to see despite local cloudy

conditions.

The planetary alignment -- which included Saturn, Jupiter and Mars --

could be seen Thursday around sunset, more visible than the planets will

be again until 2002, astronomers said.

The chance alignment occurred because of the frequent movement of the

planets. John Mosley, of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, said

the planets spanned only eight degrees of the sky and could be covered

with an outstretched hand.

There will, however, be a bigger -- but not brighter -- planetary

alignment on May 5, said OCC astronomy professor Nick Contopoulos.

During the May 5 alignment, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the

moon will gather around the sun in a compact grouping. However, it will

not be visible to the naked eye.

Those same planets and the sun -- but not the moon -- will form an even

closer group on May 17.

These gatherings will have no affect on the earth. But that doesn’t mean

they can’t create cosmic chaos among people.

“Cults usually love this kind of stuff,” Contopoulos said. “People like

to grab on to stuff too much.”