Saturday, 25 February 2017

orbital motion - Could this planetary superalignment happen?


Here's the 'superalignment' I'm referring to:


Planetary Superalignment



We've all heard the stories about 'mystical planetary alignments' that will increase/decrease the effective surface gravity experienced on Earth (one debunked here on snopes), sometimes referred to as 'Zero G Day'.


What I'm wondering is: what would be the maximum possible effect on a given weight (ratio of 'normal' weight to 'alignment' weight)?



  1. Noon at a new moon, Venus and Mercury between the Earth and the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune across the sun in roughly a straight line (maximum lightness).

  2. Midnight during the same alignment (maximum heaviness - almost the same ratio, but 2 Earth radii further away from the planets and sun).


Also, how often (if ever) could this happen?


EDIT


I have calculated the resulting effects of this 'superalignment':


Planetary Superalignment Calculator



The result is that with the planets and our moon aligned as much as they can be to have their forces be additive, their gravity culminates in a $\pm0.06\%$ difference. Since I weigh 90kg, I would weigh 89.94 kg at noon and 90.05 kg at midnight.


Now, the last part of this question remains - would this superalignment, or something approximating this superalignment, ever occur, and if so would it be on a repetition and how often?




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