What Happens When The Planets Align? | Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains…

How rare are planetary alignments? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explain the alignments and conjunctions of the planets in our solar system.
What does it mean for the planets to be aligned? Does that mean that something special will happen or you will have good luck? We discuss the plane of the solar system, the origins of the days of the week, and what it means to be in alignment. That, plus, what is the difference between alignments and conjunctions?
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Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
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00:00 - Introduction
01:14 - The Order of the Planets
6:58 - What Makes Alignment Special
8:13 - When Alignments Repeat
9:58 - Planetary Conjunctions

[@StarTalk]

Have you witnessed a planetary alignment?

[@pretty5793]

You are telling me my planets are always aligned. Now, let us move onto the stars. 🤯

[@conanobrien1]

Have I witnessed a planetary alignment like this 7:27 ? 7:27 is what most of us expected you will discuss in this episode, not planetary *aplainment* you were talking about. _made a word for you_

[@Wannabe-Pro]

I love chuck, I feel like he is supposed to represent us, ask the questions we as non PhD astrophysicists would have, but he clearly has a ridiculously high NDT range IQ and asks even more fulfilling questions than I ever could. Love this channel.

[@msz6683]

@@conanobrien1 you're absolutely right. I see in the comments, that there is a lot of people disappointed with this episode :(

[@castagninofabio]

I always thought they meant that Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were basically one spot in the sky from our perspective (exactly one "in front" of eachother).

[@mattevans-koch9353]

I always thought that the "alignment" of the planets meant that they formed a pattern that if you drew a straight line from the center of the sun to the edge of the solar system a number of the planets would be along that line at approximately the same time. That alignment would look like they were stacked vertically. Based on the different periods of revolution around the sun, this would be a rare event.

[@waleedgaming4910]

Exactly what i thought. i dont know why Neil and Chuck are acting like they dont know what alignment is! Since they r orbiting at different speeds there comes a time they all align, and thats what people want to know about, not "O they "align" every day so its no big news"

[@KartavyaRana]

That's exactly what I thought, but Neil didn't say anything about that in this video, did he???

[@KartavyaRana]

something like shown in this animation 07:27

[@wordsandtech]

Yes, the sun and all planets on the same straight line is what most people who came to this video were likely thinking of. I was disappointed in this episode, especially since they had graphical illustrations of this phenomenon, yet didn't actually address it. When all points fall on the same line, they're called colinear. It's estimated that the sun and 8 planets would be colinear once every 13 trillion years. Being that the universe isn't nearly that old and our solar system won't last that long, chances are this has never happened and never will happen.

[@waleedgaming4910]

@7:26 they show what alignment is, and yet they say nothing about it.

[@jamesjellis]

The way I've always understood "planetary alignment" was that one could draw a straight line through the given planets and sun when viewed from all directions.

[@screamcheeese7175]

The planets are always aligned among the same plane, but they’re NOT always aligned in the sense of the planets being in a straight line with each other, which is what everyone thinks of when it comes to planetary alignment. With all the different orbit times they have, wouldn’t that indeed be rare?

[@leonardtramiel8704]

Not only is this rare, it is so rare it has essentially never happened.

[@andrerijnders4600]

Your talking about conjunction, I would like to know more about that

[@leonardtramiel8704]

@@andrerijnders4600 take a look at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_(astronomy)

[@jamesjellis]

​@@andrerijnders4600conjunction is when the planets are all visible from earth in basically the same very narrow field of view. Alignment is when you can draw a straight line through the sun and planets when viewed from above or below the orbital plane. The news always calls week conjunctions "alignments"

[@johnramirez5032]

@@leonardtramiel8704 if it were to happen would there be any noticeable effects ? Its seams there might be. Look at how the moon affects us. Its size is small compared to the planets.

[@vince7207]

I do love how Neil has the ability to make me feel less bad about missing out on "extraordinary" stellar events.

[@Arthera0]

In the end you yourself are an extraordinary stellar event

[@vince7207]

@@Arthera0 foreal. Coincidentally, I've just this moment watched an NDT short on how "lucky" we are to have even been born.

[@StarTalk]

A lovely exchange.

[@888_vav]

@@StarTalk just curious as to the motive in regards to your diminishing and negative perspective and opinion of astrology and celestial events. Astrology itself will be proven correct in the near future with irrefutable evidence, so I hope your hungry for some words. To say that there are no planet alignments is a wildly incorrect statement. I don't even know that much in regards to astronomy, but I know enough to understand there are rare events in regards to planet placement. This will also be proven true in the near future. Im not to sure if your just not seeing it or if this is scripted with a deeper agenda that possibly pertains to the veiling of a greater truth. Personally, I hope for the former but expect the latter this day and age. Regardless the deluge has already commenced and will inevitably come fourth to all. You should seriously look into ancient cultures and their brilliantly measured and monitored astrological histories. Not to mention the bible as well, as it is one giant record and outlook ahead in regards to human consciousness and its cyclical deviation due to the cosmos, planets etc. It's interesting. Best wishes Neil. 💫👁🔺️

[@thereadersvoice]

​@@888_vav The end is always nigh, isn't it. 😒

[@lukion27]

During the summer of 1991 there was an alignment of 4 planets - the Earth, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. As June progressed, you could see the other three planets in a mostly straight line in the evening sky coming closer and closer to each other. I think it was in early July they all came within one degree of each other, not perfectly aligned in that mostly straight line they had before, but they formed a tight triangle. Then, after that, they drifted apart and went their separate ways again. It was truly a sight to behold, being able to watch it get set up for weeks, and then watching it dismantle for weeks after.

[@mikeslemonade]

Space is fake. So they moved the hologram into the alignment, nice..

[@douglaswilkinson5700]

Anton Petrov discussed a research paper about cumulative gravity of the aligned planets affecting the plasma on the surface of the Sun.

[@williamstamper442]

Dang, in summer 1991 I was working 9-5, chasing girls on the weekends in my hot rod and partying at night. I missed this planet alignment altogether! Growing up does not mean grown up, LoL

[@Mozart1220]

@@douglaswilkinson5700 I once wrote a paper describing all the miracles in the Bible as being done by space aliens. I even called the U of Iowa tro see if a magnetic field could part the red sea. (It could but the energy required would be more than 100 of our Sun or something like that) I got an "A" for the creativity, but that doesn't mean that actually happened.

[@dcrisp8888]

And the total solar eclipse that summer July 11.

[@cwbuilds9215]

Wait... if planetary alignment happens like the media expects it to, would we just be looking at a single dot because theyre all behind each other? Assuming we are in perfect aligmnet with them like in the pictures.

[@GummieI]

Yep, most likely we would actually just see the moon, since it is so close, it appears the biggest, and is also the closest. with all the other planets hiding "behind (well Mercury and Venus would be on the other side of the earth in their daytime, and anyone trying to look for those would just be blinded by the sun, so would not recommend :P). But it really was that I expected to be talked about in the video when I saw it was about planetary alignment, so pretty disappointed in this video.

[@Xandycane]

I wonder how the gravity of each planet would react to the others if they did that. It is probably minuscule, but still... I'm curious.

[@DBitRun]

​@@GummieIIt would great to see an animation of what you are describing.

[@JacquesZahar]

In any case we will never “see” a perfect alignement of all the planets on the same line (called conjonction), because we are in the middle of the sequence of planets. So depending if we look towards the Sun, or away from it on the other side of Earth (or wait say 12 hours) we will see only parts of the planets. Only exception is the moon that can be seen on both sides

[@jorgegonzalez-larramendi5491]

​@@GummieI however: it made you Think and *conjuction* was brought up at the end a *Neil* Star "Joke"

[@davemac4968]

Dear Mr deGrass Tyson & Chuck, but what happens when the planets all line up in space on one side of the Sun, like in the image at 9:28? When's the next time that will happen? And would the gravitation pull from all the outer planets be enough to affect anything like the tides here on earth? Would that make the Sun wobble it's biggest wobble?

[@yourguard4]

The sun has over 99% of the mass of the solarsystem. The effect of the other

[@kaseyboles30]

Technically it would have an effect. However you walking along the shore would have a stronger gravitational effect on the local tide. They are pretty far away. I mean space is huge, you thought a trip to the chemist was a bit of a walk, it's got nothing on these distances.

[@AaronShenghao]

People freaked out back in 12/21/2012, I don't remember what I have done that day.

[@joshentheosparks7492]

The answer: asteroids change direction and cross earth's orbit around the sun.

[@VoltisArt]

@@AaronShenghao meh, 02/02/2020 was a much cooler date on _our_ calendar. Won't get that again for 1010 years. 12/20/2012 is a good runner-up with symmetry. The Mayan calendar ticks over every 394 years, with a group of 13 of these resetting a larger cycle of 5125 years. That's all the silliness was about back in 2012. The Mayans didn't expect the world to end, just their calendar.

[@SMP2059]

Back in 1984 I think it was. I went out into my backyard and looked up and saw three planets are different colours in a straight line. It’s the only time I ever saw that and then I remember thinking that it was quite remarkable

[@duaanekobe2773]

Yes Age of Aquarius alignment even the astrophysicists were of different opinions. We will not have that type of alignment for more than our life times

[@dafizzlord]

You all should do an explainer on the days of the week, how this relates to the Gods of antiquity, and how in turn this relates to space and our Universe. This subject is so interesting when you mentioned the days of the week during this video. I feel like as smart as our human race has gotten we have forgotten some deep and beautiful truths that permeate our reality and are prevalent across all cultures regardless of our lens bias, societal norms, or religious view. This should unite us and not divide us, specially as we move forward into the challenges of this century.

[@Atite_Lometen]

I used to work as a cater, and we had a customer that were into the end of the world stuff so I would get really good tips like $70 for delivering and setting up the big feast they got every year, I would say thank you and I never said see you next year, you got to know you customers. So in my opinion I would say what happens when planets align... you get good tips.

[@MightOfOgun]

🤣😂

[@wmtub]

Glad to see someone has a sense of humor. 🍦

[@katherandefy]

😂😂

[@holygroove2]

I really like the visuals here! Please continue to use them as you are able to!

[@R0bobb1e]

In high school (1997-98) is saw a conjunction of a crescent moon, Jupiter and Mars (I think, although it may have been Venus). All three were perfectly aligned vertically. It was a spectacular sight and I managed to get a photo of it, but it was with film and my then girlfriend kept the negatives, but it was still really cool. I'll never forget what it looked like. Just sharing!

[@ahrounwolf13]

And here I simply took for granted the fact that the solar system objects were on the se plane, assuming that when "alignments" were mentioned, those doing so, were talking about from the top down view, sun centric.

[@jazzboneplaya]

I love these cats 😂. Thanks for making astronomy so fun and entertaining yet keeping it factual 🙏🏾

[@EpicPalmTree]

8:46 was a nice moment for me. I watch these videos out of curiosity knowing that there will be bits of information I won't truly understand. However the Incredibles reference was silly and brought a somewhat complex concept closer to the ground. Thank you for these videos where I can learn a ton.

[@lesternielson9280]

Do the planets ever share the same radial line and for lack of a better term "eclipse" each other?

[@rdspam]

That would be an occultation or transit, depend on whether the larger is in front or behind (generically, an occlusion). But planets are so tiny in terms of arc length in the visible sky, that it’s quite rare. The last planetary occlusion occurred in 1818 and the next will occur in 2065, both involving Venus and Jupiter.

[@jaimes5716]

A couple years ago mercury passed in front of the sun and you could see a black dot moving with a solar telescope

[@dianepusateri5841]

That dum* a** de grasse..he's so full of it. I CANT STAND HIM!!!!!

[@joekillmonsmojt9197]

That's is correct. For both responses

[@bipolarminddroppings]

I think, in principle, every planet can transit every other planet, if you have the right vantage point. They are all pretty much bang on the same orbital inclination.

[@JD987abc]

NDT has a wonderful voice. I love it when he’s serious with his explanations.

[@richiewitkowski7142]

When the moon does Occultations those are beautiful sights in telescopes! Saw the Mars/Moon Occultation back in December one of the coolest things ive witnessed in a telescope

[@julianthegodmusic]

Im always watching this i love how excited ppl are to learn this whole community is dope. Gotta love Star Talk its my morning ritual

[@theduder2617]

These are some of the best sorts of explainers. It explains objective truth while still allowing the devoted to appreciate their traditions.

[@amosbackstrom5366]

Except he doesn't understand alignment and didn't explain the phenomenon.

[@theduder2617]

@@amosbackstrom5366 Actually, he did. All that is required is listening while he spoke before trying to formulate a response. YOU are a random person on youtube. If you seriously think you know anything about planetary alignments that Neil did not learn while at the university, you are one of the MANY completely out of touch with objective reality. Watch again. Only this time, PAY ATTENTION AND LISTEN, for those are VITAL skills one was supposed to have learned BEFORE obtaining internet access. You are the sort of individual who could be told "Read ALL questions before answering", and your paper would be filled with answers despite the last question being "Only answer question number 1". And THAT is a major part of what is horribly wrong with the two most recent generations... The refusal to comprehend spoken or written words. I would have been nice had you not chose to begin your response with two blatant lies. Stop being intentionally ignorant and LISTEN when others are speaking. Otherwise, you are in for a world of rudeness you have yet to understand. Intentional ignorance and blind delusional fantasy had it's 4 year run and they ruined it at literally every turn. Non-placating rudeness will now be the reality of those who do not comprehend and instead, spew illogical lies and nonsense in order to somehow self justify the intentional ignorance. Hey, YOU chose to leave your comment where you did. Deal with the repercussion of that decision. You have a choice to make. EDUCATE, or accept outright ridicule.

[@denisenj7648]

I thought the issue was that they aligned in order. Like if pepperoni was spread randomly on a pizza, from the side they are aligned, but not from the top. But the special alignment would be when you make a radius of pepperoni from the center to the crust.

[@Gokes93]

special? I call that pizza ruined

[@ICKY427]

i was expecting to learn how often ALL the planets are actually in a straight line (or near enough). thats what ive always thought of as "planetary alignment"

[@darrellanderson7934]

I'm picking up what you're putting down. It makes perfect sense. I'm glad that you touched on what a conjunction is because there are a lot of people that don't understand the difference

[@goldenageflash5924]

Really enlightening I see a different planetary alignment perspective Thanks for sharing

[@thelostone6981]

Weird. My horoscope for today said “an astrophysicist will explain planet alignment, but please do not look up what astrophysicists think about horoscopes” and here I am! 😂😂

[@victory9285]

My horoscope said i would reply a comment about an astrophysicist explaining planetary allignment based on someone else's horoscope👀. Weird

[@dizzlebizzle8424]

i like how the animation showed an actual alignment at the end as if they know that Neil is being pedantic or straw-manning. an alignment is like multiple bodies all eclipsing simultaneously, not simply 'existing on the same plane' and i don't know how Neil can even defend pretending to think that's what people mean by alignment (other than clickbait articles he's seen maybe tricking him).

[@ocorley3124]

Huh?

[@kellyrobinson1780]

Absolutely. He's just playing word/mind games here.

[@schavez5656]

You must have either stopped listening or simply aren't very smart.

[@joe3eagles]

@dizzlebizzle8424 That's not an alignment. If you had been listening, you'd know that is called a conjunction.

[@jaredmarr5731]

Or at least attempting to…

[@nozomusho]

This discussion made so little sense that it finally made sense. Took so long for me to understand the "alignment" Neil speak of is that if you project the spatial position (in 3D) of the planets onto a 2D surface, then it's a line. I don't think that's how normal beings think

[@DanceBeforeTheStorm_]

Sharp and witty, this is the exact opposite of a downer. In fact, you made me feel a little smarter, again. Thank you 😊

[@RH-beefhemoth]

Thats when the dark one from beyond reality can be summoned

[@TheFifthWorld22]

You called?

[@chriscancarry]

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!

[@ThizzRyuko]

My grandmother?

[@JoshuaK-4GR]

@@ThizzRyuko😂

[@joanfregapane8683]

Another great episode from Neil & Chuck!

[@jameseruera9642]

Love your channel coz you keep it real, learn something new everday

[@lovelywaz]

This quote saying "It's NEVER gonna be the same night ever again" brings me back to the Time Travel is impossible theory that I have mentioned in the past and hopefully Mr. Tyson will one day talk about it if/when he discusses time travel again. Since we are moving in the space at an extremely fast speed (our solar system is moving within the Milky Way and galaxy itself is moving in the space etc.. etc..) Why on Earth this is never brought in the equation when it comes to even theoretical time travel possibility? If we can somehow travel back in time, say only a year in past, our planet Earth would physically be millions of miles away in the space hence we will also have to find a way to travel at whatever the speed is required to "appear" in the exact same spot when time traveling. And that's what makes it impossible to time travel. 😵😵😵

[@jonathanfenton8695]

This is a good way to explain time travel in Terminator. You end up in a random place instead of the exact place you left from beause SkyNet had taken this variable into account.

[@nickhagerl877]

Just so I get this right, we are talking about alignment on the ecliptic line as the perspective from standing on earth and not alignment of planets and sun on a skewer, correct? I very much enjoyed this episode, I have more questions now than I did before watching.

[@BrilligandtheSlithyToves]

Yes, that would be a planetary "conjunction" where all the planets are on the same side of the sun in a line. But since they are in Similar orbits, but each is a couple of degrees off center you are able to see more than one planet even during a conjunction event (unless of course you're on the side facing the sun at the time. Lol). Don't know how frequently that happens, but it's few and far between. That's what most people think of when they hear "alignment".

[@Laz_Arus]

This explanation was somewhat circular in nature. 😉

[@adiakiyes6354]

I love the humbleness of Chuck when Neil tell the story and he's just nodding and smile which made me love to watch.

[@vijaz5559]

Chuck is us listening to neil 😂

[@carlosbarahona8609]

Kudos 👏 ❤ To Neil Tyson Degrasse. Did he just speak Spanish? Naming the days of the week? Actually again 100% right. In spanish we do name them after planets. In Greek is Planetes. In spanish they are called planetas. Days of the week. Lunes = Moon = Monday. Martes= Mars=Tuesday. Miercoles= Mercury, Wednesdays. Jueves= Jupiter=Thursday. Viernes= Venus= Friday. Sabado=Saturno=Saturday. Domingo= Sol=Sunday. But only Sunday I think In English one nails it. :)

[@steveparsons3498]

I thought when the planets are in alignment, Lara Croft can go back it time and talk to her dad.

[@robr177]

A conjunction is what everyone else (who are not astrophysicists) mean when they say the planets are aligned. Specifically a conjunction in a very small part of the sky, where the planets appear very close together. The question "What happens when the planets align" drew me in because I thought something happened when several planets were in a line on the same side of the sun, like a gravitational disturbance or something. I guess not. Very disappointed that they used the clickbait title on this one. Bad, Dr. Tyson, bad.

[@PjKneisel]

He talks about conjunctions at the 10 minute mark

[@robr177]

@@PjKneisel He talks about it like it wasn't what people mean. When people say planetary alignment, they mean conjunction. He should have been talking about conjunction the whole time, while explaining that the proper term is that rather than alignment, since he knows that's what people mean. He references conjunction as a side note. The point is not that he never mentions conjunction, but that he explains alignment, instead of explaining conjunction, even though he knows that people use the wrong term all the time. I wanted to know if there was some sort of gravitational influence when planets are all on the same side of the sun. But he did not talk about that at all. He talked about how the planets are all on the same plane, therefore always aligned. Do you understand now?

[@kellyrobinson1780]

Yeah, nothing happens. You have to remember that the sun is like, what, a thousand times more massive than all the rest of the solar system combined. So even if all the planets from Mars to Neptune were in a straight line directly away from us, opposite the sun, the gravitational effect on Earth would still be negligible.

[@Muhahahahaz]

I think you’re missing the entire point here. The media literally makes a big deal about “events” that are not conjunctions at all! It’s quite literally the entire point of this video If they only made a big deal about actual conjunctions and happened to call them an “alignment” instead, then we wouldn’t be having this discussion But the vast majority of the time, these news stories are about 3-4 planets showing up in the same half of the sky, almost nowhere near each other. Events like that will happen every year or two, and are not rare at all, but they’re common enough to give the media something to grasp at once in a while 🤷

[@Muhahahahaz]

@@robr177but he *is* talking about it like what people mean (or at the very least, what the news media means, who are constantly hyping up these “alignments,” most of which are not conjunctions at all… See my above comment)

[@davidbonilla2253]

....summary of video. Confusion of 1D alignment versus 2D alignment. Yay semantics. Well done, Neil.

[@ugandiumpermanganate8202]

Thanks Neil! I am learning Spanish and I always struggle to remember the days of the week but you have no idea how much this has settled it for me✌

[@StarTalk]

Fantastic! Of all things, we had no idea we'd be teaching you Spanish.

[@ugandiumpermanganate8202]

@@StarTalk 🤣🤣🤣...you never know where help is gonna come from. I did not click on the video to learn Spanish either but it is what happened.

[@HughJass-jv2lt]

@@ugandiumpermanganate8202 Yep same. I just looked them all up. I only knew lunes - moon . Imagine my embarrassment discovering Sunday was named after _THE SUN._ And Saturday named after SATURN 🤣🤣

[@WildlifeWarrior-cr1kk]

@@StarTalk I wish Neil degrasse tyson was my teacher

[@SacredOwl]

Would be cool if you talked about how space weather effects health.

[@nycbearff]

They have in the past. It doesn't seem to have any effect on health.

[@SacredOwl]

@@nycbearff My wife's migraines are triggered by solar flares. I created a shielding room to stop ring current induction and it mitigates her migraine and surprisingly seizure and Fibromyalgia. Nice study last year in solar flare activating endothelial and inflammation, I think from. Harvard.

[@lordcrayzar]

Neil, you know this isn’t what anyone meant by alignment.

[@markzambelli]

1) The planets are _always_ wandering across the sky but we now know they aren't wandering _aimlessly_ ... this is an important distinction. 2) 'Alignment' refers specifically to 'line of sight' conjunctions and not just to the fact they all orbit the Sun along the ecliptic... the ecliptic can be thought of as a line across the sky (x axis) so there is no y axis (as mentioned they all orbit in the same plane)... the alignment is rare when they bunch together (conjunction) in a line that extends away from the Earth along a z axis. So, given that each period of each planet is vastly different, the probability that all eight planets line up along a line extending away from the Sun (this z axis I mentioned) is so rare (Mercury orbits the sun in 88 days, yet Neptune orbits once in 165 years) it likely has never happened yet and won't as it'll happen once every 22 billion years !!! and the solar system has only been around for just under 5 billion years (I'm ignoring the possiblity that the orbits could become chaotic on timescales longer than a billion yrs)

[@danholmes5309]

"changing definitions of words is a great way to talk down to people while seeming like you're the only one that knows something" ---Neil, probably

[@lo-fillama]

The Greek word for wanderer is περιπλανώμενος (periplanómenos)?

[@x_capt_x9584]

How do you do this explainer and not include the once in a however many years event when all the planets ARE all on the same degree radially(obviously im not sure the right way to put that)around the sun?

[@lizsteilkie]

Conjunction

[@x_capt_x9584]

@honestsage yes...if all the planets are in conjunction from the the sun's pov

[@thomasgalloway6862]

I do seem to remember "someone" said that voyager 1&2 were launched at a time when the mission could be tweeked to take advantage of a rare planetary alignment for pictures n movies to be recorded.

[@Hobbes746]

Yes. The Voyagers took advantage of the alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which happens once every ~176 years, and allowed one spacecraft to visit all 4 planets.

[@23Fibonacci]

Great explanation for what occupied my mind figuring out as I tried to fall asleep at night.

[@vladimirius84]

I usually love listening to these... never in my life have I expected for these two to so mischaracterize a subject.

[@bloodymarvelous4790]

My mom fell down the stairs backwards, and had a hole in her skull. Took her a couple of months of recuperation, but she turned out fine. No lingering effects. She said she thanked God every day for making it through that. I asked her if she also thanked God for pushing her down the stairs.

[@ggriffaw]

I think when people say the planets are aligned they mean a conjunction. Those planets are more or less in a line from the earth. When looking from above the plane of the orbits, several planets form a line from the sun.

[@paulwalsh9680]

Yes, the planets are visually in alignment along the plane of the ecliptic. I think what the media get confused about are conjunctions. I don't know how often (I suspect _extremely_ rarely) the planet's line up so that if you imagine a straight line out from the Sun, all the planet's (and Moon) would be on that line, so that looking out you see Mars in front of Jupiter in front of Saturn etc., or looking inwards (with suitable equipment of course) you see Venus and Mercury transiting the Sun at (more or less) the same time

[@terenzo50]

An alignment of sorts happened back in the 60s when I was in high school. Everybody expected something to happen, but nothing did.

[@AceSpadeThePikachu]

One type of alignment/conjunction that's actually useful is the kind that allows for a gravity-assisted mission to the outer solar system, like the Voyager missions took advantage of. THOSE are noteworthy. Another type are eclipses. Not just solar and lunar eclipses, but planetary eclipses too, where one planet seems to pass directly in front of another in the night sky, or when Venus or Mercury pass in front of the sun from our perspective. The latter is actually very useful for science because it's basically a transit. If I recall one such observed transit was how early astronomers determined Venus has a thick atmosphere.

[@PlagueOfGripes]

I never thought of them as being in a line from our perspective. It would be a single dot in the sky, with all planets stacked in a line, with us near the front end of it.

[@bharat7917]

10:40 -- Ancient Indians (more ancient than the ancient Greeks & Romans the "western" world can go back to) had a name for this "segment" of the sky. They divided the sky into 27 segments (termed as "Nakshatras") of 13 1/3 degrees each and had a specific name for all of them. In fact, ancient Indian calendars are said to have been started from a point when there was a rare planetary conjunction in a specific Nakshatra.

[@paultembo8488]

This is a common multiple problem based on each planet's orbit. Assuming that there are small deviations to the orbits and that they are on same plane that alignment would be at a point in time in the future which is what Neil DeGrasse Tyson mentions after explaining that they are aligned everyday. So we could say there are two alignments. So to which alignment does the question pertain?

[@songOmatic]

love your delivery as always, Chuck and Neil!

[@MichaelDembinski]

Amazing. I'm 65; I never knew this! Thanks guys!

[@rebecca_stone]

"it's possible for something to be rare, and completely uninteresting". Love that! Wise words.

[@cazl2875]

I figured that out when I downloaded the Skymap app. It's brilliant to look up at the sky with the app and see the planets align, then take a screen shot. It's way cool! 😊🌎

[@cooltrkin]

Be it from me to call a physicist wrong. I thought they were talking about all the planets are in alignment On one side of the sun. All planets travel on a circumference, each planet A larger circumference. It's very rare for all the planets to be in a row on one side of the sun. Yes all the planets are on the same plane but that's a different thing all together.

[@stephengillenwaters1950]

You guys are great man!! I love sharing the knowledge I learn, with my son and the people at work. They always look at me cross-eyed, thinking how does this dude know this?!..lol..

[@helenedesmarais8697]

It's called educating yourself. Big big lack of it these days and even despised. Keep at it and NEVER loose that curiosity.

[@viewfromthehighchair9391]

My understanding of "planetary" alignment was when the planets were aligned if one could look out from the Sun. Another interesting situation would be if all the planets were on one side of the Sun at the same time or, more seldomly, in the same quadrant. I realize the planets don't have enough of an effect even in such an alignment; however, it is mildly interesting. I have to admit that I had not considered the fact that at least half the planets are on one sided (?) of the Sun at the same time All the time by definition. That fact actually caught me off guard at little but I was glad to have it pointed out. Thank you. I do understand what you are saying about the planets always having some sort of alignment no matter when you are considering their position; however, again, I always considered planetary alignments from the perspective of looking directly out from the Sun.

[@douglaswilkinson5700]

Neil, you are talking about the ecliptic. I think the question was about a *linear* alignment of the planets.

[@KidaleSmith]

keep it up i like the realistic-ness to science i been waiting for this

[@joyl7842]

I once looked through a small telescope while visiting the southern coast of Sweden. It was the first time I saw Jupiter and its brightest moons. Spectacular. I often see Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the ISS, newly deployed Starlink-satellites, etc.

[@pablovillamichel9296]

My understanding was that a planetary alignment meant that all planets were in the same radius of a circle with the sun in the middle (all in the same plain). ☀️ 🌎🌔🪐

[@gralfca]

Conjunctions are like an eclipse, amazing phenomenons of nature.

[@rockinracer]

Poor Pluto, still picking on that poor icecube. Bring out the Superman flame thrower stories, hilarious. Love we need an event to view life as special.

[@pqrstsma2011]

1:38 wow thanks Dr Neil! you answered one of my questions before i had the chance to ask it to you

[@k1j2f30]

Thanks for 'splaining that Neil, always great 'splanations!

[@TJ_Low]

I watched this at .75x speed the second time around and it was one of the best decisions i’ve ever made. It’s like two buddies getting drunk and talking about space.

[@chrishamilton9027]

I did not slow it down and I think Neil was drunk.

[@cnex1]

The persuasive power of "perspective" is literally what matters in everything.

[@BlueAsterismSolstice]

I always took alignment of them to be when they form a perfect line in all angles of perspective, where the sun is on one end and Neptune at the other. Such a period would be more interesting as a commemoration period to decide a time is right. Arguably there would be the most quantum relevance between planets in such a period as well as a sort of driving motivator in almost a spiritual level.

[@imahti]

Chuck's news presenter voice was Incredible

[@EmpireFanatic]

In Norway/Norwegian, we have two written Languages in Norway, the one less commonly used is closer to the Norse language, so sounds closer. Our days are named after 4 of the gods, the Moon, the sun and washing day. English/Bokmål/Nynorsk (The two written languages). Dag = Day Monday/Mandag/Måndag - Månens dag (The moons day), Tuesday/Tirsdag/Tysdag = Tyrs Dag (Tyr is a warrior god, and in charge of Odins forces), Wednesday/Onsdag/Same - Odins Dag, Thursday/Torsdag/Same = Tors Dag (Thors), Friday/Fredag/Same - Friggs day (Odins Wife), Alternatively Frøys Dag or Frøyas dag (god of agriculture and Godess of Love and beauty respectively). Saturday/Lørdag/Laurdag - Comes from Laugardagr which means washing day. And Sunday/Søndag/Sundag, is the same as English, Sunnudagr ie. The Suns day.

[@EmpireFanatic]

In English, you basically have the same, but instead of the Norse god Tyr you use the Germanic god Tiu for Tuesday, And similarly, instead of Odin, you use the Germanic Woden (Which I believe is the same as Wotan, which is either very similar to Odin or his equivalent).

[@patsagreen]

In India, week days are named as name of planets including Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus & Saturn with their corresponding Sanskrit names.

[@davidsykes6584]

I've been enjoying the conjunction for the last few weeks of Mars, Venus, and the Moon. Every night I enjoy looking up. Even with all the light pollution.

[@iansclone]

"The planets are always aligned. -Neil De Grass Tyson" is a t-shirt I would buy.

[@ManaBDew]

In commute yesterday morning I was just thinking of the planets 🪐 and, how man has figured it out. Neat

[@SiyabongaMalinga]

On this chanel I feel like I am getting wiser by each video

[@jneumy566]

You could say that, by definition, an alignment would be more like a conjunction, like the image they kept showing of all the planets at the same point in their orbit, forming a straight line of planets from the sun to Neptune. But looking at the sky then probably wouldn't look too remarkable because they might all be too clustered together or hidden behind each other to see them all.

[@sucforlife126]

I love this guy he can explain smart to the ignorant so so very well. Thank you for that

[@PrinceAlhorian]

Getting excited on a "planetary alignment" is about as exciting as seeing the three hands of an analog clock eclipsing each other.

[@adamflores4206]

I love explainers... Niel, you have some splaining to do...

[@dalesmith5009]

2:02 I argue that if Pluto was spotted by a state of the art telescope of its time, which wasn’t anywhere near as good as the ones we have today, Pluto is still a planet.

[@andersburrows1085]

perhaps the most profound thing he said was "by the way, every night will not repeat for 150 thousand years... its possible for something to be rare and completely uninteresting, because every night is equally as rare!" love it!

[@crystalmckinney3151]

I enjoyed this so much i subscribed 😊

[@tommy2064]

🤣🤣🤣 6:24 "I dont know how else to bring the news to you" I love his teaching style Also, thats so deep when he said every night wont happen... that's a reason to look up at night, not ONLY because of a "rare" alignment . so true

[@benshook4643]

Instead of thinking everyday is boring just because we don't have a special event we should look up thinking everyday is special and look forward to every day with the same wonder and awe

[@84SuperBeast]

What I got from this is it's ok to be excited about eclipses caused by our moon, but not planetary ones, because there isn't enough of an effect for us to care about.

[@michaelburns4020]

And here I was expecting a reference to The Dark Crystal, and the Great Conjunction. You disappoint with this one.

[@hedonepicurea4327]

Thanks. I didn't know about the planets aligning topic. I learned. Great video. "願いです君が持ってる未来利益." -鎧愛

[@77cricker]

U 2 are intellectually funny, adding a new level of teaching. This could b a future "thing", these are informational and worthy of developing in the Future.✌️

[@DaveSomething]

I remember getting up in the middle of the night in 1982 (I was 11) to see presumably all the planets lined up. It was pretty cool... but nothing to write home about.

[@andremcamara3120]

Conjuction, is what we lay people try to say when we say alignment. So I for one have always wondered if the Gravtational pull of planets in Conjuctions has a greater effect on earth and other planets at that point of conjuction.

[@justasimpleengineer96]

I’m surprised Neil assumed that when normal folk think of alignment, they’re thinking of the plane if the planets. This is not the case as when the news reports a “planetary alignment” they are actually talking about a conjunction. It’s just that most normal people don’t use the word conjunction which is what they mean in most cases when talking about the “planets aligning”.

[@Sparkxxxtube]

Question please Neil deGrasse Tyson: at timestamp 4:07 you said "You've gotta wait until it's nighttime for them" (to see the other side of the universe. Wouldn't the other side of the earth see the same view of the universe at night on the same day (Date)? If the earth rotates around the sun and the earth is spinning 360 degrees to complete one day once the part of the earth that was facing the sun rotates 180 degrees, would it not have the exact same view of the night sky that the other side of the earth saw. so as I understand you would need to wait until the earth rotated around the sun 180 degrees before you would see this other side of the universe at night is this correct? and also if that is correct approximately how much time would have to elapse for that to happen?

[@ucman74]

Say Neil you taught me something new about the planet alignment and where’s the moon in all this and Pluto what angle are they in I really want to know the angle of the moon and Pluto at during the middle of the night.

[@petersage5157]

It's great to look up, but it's also a good idea to occasionally look down. Ani DiFranco said "When I look down I just miss all the good stuff; when I look up I just trip over things." As Carl Sagan put it, "The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be." There's a big chunk (or, depending on your perspective, a tiny speck) of the cosmos beneath our feet that all to often goes unnoticed. I think it would be great for StarTalk to invite someone like Gutsick Gibbon for a Cosmic Queries about anthropology. I'd probably be tempted to sign up as a Patreon supporter for that.