Is it true that all of the planets line up every 5000 years?

Question

I was watching Lara Croft Tomb Raider and part of the plot is that every 5000 years all of the planets are in alignment. Is this true or just some bunky Hollywood tale?

Answer 1

No.

Even during what astrologists like to call "conjunctions" the planets don't actually "line up" they are more likely within a 25 degree or larger arc in the solar plane. To get an idea what this might look like, take a clock face, stretch it so it's diameter is 6 billion kilometers and put each of the planets somewhere between 1 o'clock and 3 o'clock. This is a "conjunction" but one could hardly call the planets "lined up"

There may be a time when the planets coincidentally line up, and the frequency of this could be calculated, but my guess is that they haven't in the last 4 billion years since they've been there and may not be in the next 5 billion years until the sun burns out.

Even if they did line up exactly nothing much would happen.

Answer 2

Hollywood tale.

Mind you, the "Great Alignment" used to justify the Grand Tour by the Voyager probes was simply having the outer planet in the same quadrant (meaning: within 90 degrees of a line).  Hardly an "alignment".

Such an alignment is said to occur every 176 years.

However, if you are looking for a perfect alignment of 8 planets on a line (let's say within one degree in heliocentric longitude), then it takes longer than the lifetime of the solar system (billions of years).

A true alignment is impossible since planets are not on the same orbital planes (one planet would pass several degrees above or below another).  For example, if Venus were on the same orbital plane as Earth, we would see transits (Venus passing in front of the Sun) every 584 days (every 1 y and 7 months or so).  Instead, transits of Venus are relatively rare.  And when is the last time you have heard of a transit of Venus that was simultaneous with a transit of Mercury?  Probably never (and that only involves 3 planets and the Sun).

Answer 3

Not true at all but it does sound pretty cool, doesn't it?  That's why they put stuff like this in those games and movies.

Answer 4

No, not only is it not true, it is all but impossible. The closest possible alignment of the planets happens every 10^ 46 years, which is about 100,000 times longer than the Universe has existed so far.  

Line ups of a few are more common, but it depends what you call a line up  and how many planets you want in the line.  Earth and Venus line up with the Sun on a regular basis, twice 8 years apart then over a century to the next two.  

Answer 5

On this website, there is a calculation which shows that an exact alignment of planets can be expected every 8.6 x 10^46 years.

http://www.etsu.edu/physics/etsuobs/star...

Various groupings of planets occur from time to time and the longer you wait, the closer grouping you might expect. There is no particular regrouping on a timescale of 5,000 years.

Answer 6

no.

you are aware that lara croft is fiction?

Answer 7

no, as far as we know they have never aligned.  Sometimes it's called an alignment when they are in the same quadrant.

Answer 8

It is rumored that not every 5000 years, but every 25,000 I do believe, (or some time far before humans) that the planets align to a very close-to-perfect line. This also is said to have to deal with the belief of the end as predicted in the Long (something) Calender that was found by the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans, as well as several other ancient cultures. The theory is that the planets will align causing massive planetary disorder such as the poles reversing (which has happened and there is proof). The poles reversing will cause, as depicted in the movie, "The Core" (Which is very scientifically accurate as far as I've researched) total failure of the magnetic shield that protects us from solar radiation. If this is actually going to happen, it's all in your own opinion, I for one, do believe that it is possible, but I will not say I am right.