The diagram below shows the positions of all the solar system planets (and the dwarf planet Pluto) at the instant of the December 2012 solstice (2012 December 21 at 11:12 UTC).
Positions of the planets on December 21, 2012
The positions of the solar system planets on the December 21 solstice (2012 December 21 at 11:12 Universal Time) Image credit: Solar System Live.
Look for yourself. Do these scattered planets look aligned to you? If you squint, I suppose you could say the planets Jupiter, Earth and Venus appear aligned in space. However, such an “alignment” is not rare. If you could somehow reside above the solar system, and continually watch the planets move in space over years or millenia, you’d find that the planets make all sorts of patterns with respect to each other, endlessly, as they orbit the sun. How could it be otherwise?
Should you ever want to know the positions of the planets at the drop of the hat, click here or here.
By the way, the above diagram shows the planetary positions from the direction north of the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane. As seen from the north of the ecliptic, the planets go counter-clockwise around the sun. The planets circle the sun on nearly – but not exactly – the same plane that Earth does. The portion of the planetary orbit highlighted in blue lies north of (above) the ecliptic – Earth’s orbital plane – while that highlighted in green resides south of the ecliptic.
Perhaps you’ve seen images such as the one below. We used this image ourselves on our December 1 night sky post, in which we spoke of all the solar system planets being visible in December.
Relative sizes of planets and dwarf planets of the solar system. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons.
This portrayal of the solar system gives the relative sizes of the sun and planets, and the order of the planets (and dwarf planets) going outward from the sun. But this illustration is not dated December 21, 2012. It has no date at all. It does not show the relative distances of the planets, or their positions relative to the plane of the solar system, or their locations in orbit on December 21, 2012 or any other day. In short, this illustration does not show the planets lining up on December 21, 2012.
The so-called planetary alignment associated with December 2012 solstice is only one of numerous fraudulent claims made by pseudoscientific doomsday prognosticators. Our advice is to celebrate the solstice as our ancestors have done since time immemorial and to enjoy New Year’s celebrations! We’ll see you in 2013.
Bottom line: The planets of our solar system will not align on December 21, 2012. This post contains a diagram showing the positions of the planets on that day.
- Earth Sky
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