What will happen if all of 'em line up?

Question

suppose that one day, all planets that are orbiting around the sun will line straight up at zero angle, what will happen to our galaxy, to our sun's BINDING RING " the orbit ring", and what will happen to our earth?

Answer 1

Absolutely nothing. It has happened before, it will happen again. It makes no difference to the solar system, much less the galaxy.

HTH

Charles

Answer 2

Nothing. The planets are too far apart, and have to weak of masses for any sort of even to happen in the solar system, much less the entire galaxy.

Answer 3

the planets are too far apart for it to make any difference

Answer 4

The gravitational effect of all the planets do indeed have an effect on the earth, just as the moon has an effect on the earth.  The results of the moon's gravity on the earth creates "Tides" on various bodies of water all over the world.  The height or "range" of these tides on bodies of water near you can be obtained by watching the report of the weatherman on your local nightly news.

Now, if you were to add up the effects of the gravitational forces of the other planets in our solar system, as measured from earth, you would have a combined gravitational force equal to 10% of the Moon, as measured from earth.

The net result, our tides would be 10% above normal... a difference of a few inches in most cases... if and only if, all 9 planets were to line up.

So next time we have a planetary alignment involving every planet and in our solar system and the moon, look to your friendly neighborhood meteorologist to see what's going to happen... and it wont be much :)

Answer 5

Let's clarify a few terms first.  The word "galaxy" is commonly misused to refer to our solar system, and it appears that you've made the same mistake.  The solar system includes the Sun and planets, dwarf planets, moons, comets, asteroids, and everything else in orbit around the Sun.  The Milky Way galaxy contains about 100 billion stars (including our Sun), as well as enormous dust and gas clouds, black holes, and various other things.  All of these are in orbit around the center of the galaxy.  Don't feel bad, though: it's a common mix-up.

Secondly, I have never heard of an "orbit ring" or a "binding ring" in reference to the solar system, so I'm not sure how to answer that question.  Perhaps you could provide some additional details?

It is extremely difficult for all of the planets to line up in a perfectly straight line because of the geometry of the solar system.  Many people imagine the planets orbiting in perfectly circular orbits that all lie in exactly the same plane, and think that it's just a matter of time before they all line up and spell disaster.  In reality, the orbits of each planet are inclined by a few degrees to the ecliptic (the plane of Earth's orbit).  Also, the orbit of each planet is elliptical, and objects in elliptical orbits speed up and slow down as they go around the Sun.

So perfectly linear alignments would be exceedingly rare.  Loose alignments (when the planets form a shape that could charitably be called a line) are much more common.  They have occurred many times in our solar system's history, and you'll notice that we're all still here.

What I don't understand is why people think that a planetary alignment, even a very tight one, would cause ANYTHING to happen on Earth.  Gravity holds our solar system together but it is still an incredibly weak force.  The gravitational influence of any particular planet on the Earth pales in comparison to that of the Sun, and matters wouldn't improve much during a tight alignment.  All an alignment would do is provide a very pretty sight in the sky and a great deal of amateur astronomical interest.  It wouldn't significantly change the Earth's orbit, nor would it cause higher-than-average tides, earthquakes, or storms.  We'd be just fine.

I hope that helps.  Good luck!

Answer 6

Alignments of planets are in the realm of astrology. Astrologers derive all sorts of predictions from planetary alignments and none of them ever take place (apart from those that would have happened by chance anyway). In the real world of astronomy, nothing will happen. The gravitational pull of Mars on the Earth isn't any different just because Jupiter might happen to be in line with Mars at the same time.

Answer 7

Gravitational catastrophe?

Answer 8

your funny kid.

absolutely nothing could happen if all the planets lined up. the planet that has the most gravitational pull on you (besides the earth) is jupiter. wanna know how much pull it has on you? about as much as 3 people standing fairly close to you. there is no such thing as a binding ring. and no change in the solar system will effect the galaxy. our solar system can completely disappear and nothing would happen to the galaxy.