Predictions for 2005

From: Wally Anglesea <wanglese_at_spbigpondammersarevermin.net.au>
Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 05:11:57 GMT

Before anyone else gets in, I'll make a few predictions. Our resident kooks, such as Ed Wollman, and "dr" Turi will have lots to try to claim during the next year, because of the regular relative positions of the Sun, Moon, and Planets, Pennis also, and probably McNeil.

However, in each endeavour they will end up being seen as laughable failures at best, and frauds at worse. Some of the new-age nitwits will get all twitterpated, even after they got embarrassed after this years "Harmonic Convergence". They will conveniently ignore that non-event, and grasp at something this year.Here's why:

JANUARY: Saturn will be at opposition, and Mercury and Venus will be close to each other in the sky. This will not influence events on Earth, and this is a common occurrence.
The Moon will occult Jupiter on 31st of January. This will not measurably increase the gravitational influences on Earth or the Sun, or anything< and will not influence events on Earth, but some nitwits will claim it does.

Comet C/2004 Machholz may be naked eye visible, and some chicken littles will get twitterpated about it.

FEBRUARY: Jupiter will again be occulted by the Moon on 27th. As above. (occultations of planets are regular, if sometimes rare occurrences, due to the apparent positions of the Moon and planets as they orbit the Sun).

MARCH: Jupiter will again be occulted by the Moon (27th again), and as above, will not influence anything on Earth. Antares (alpha Scorpio) will be occulted twice , 3rd and 31st), and neither event should be considered extraordinary, and will not influence events of Earth.

APRIL: Solar Eclipse on 9th. Nothing to get twitterpated about, but some will.
Jupiter will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (23rd) Lunar Eclipse on 24th
Antares will AGAIN be occulted (27th)

MAY: Mars and Uranus close together in the sky. Ed Wollmann and "dr" Turi will try to make some sort of postulation that this is significant. Asteroid Juno will be occulted by the Moon. Jupiter will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (20th) Antares will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (24th) Mars will be occulted by the Moon.

Some chicken littles will claim this is a rare occurrence, whereas multiple occultations such as this are regular, and a consequence of the orbits of the Moon and planets, and come in series such as the one described here.

JUNE: Mercury, Venus and Saturn all close together. Jupiter will be AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (16th) Antares will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (21st)

JULY: Jupiter will be AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (14th). Antares will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (18th)

And here's the BIG ONE:
On July 4th, NASA's "Deep Impact" probe is due to have a large 720Kg copper impactor hit right smack dab in the middle of Comet 9P/Temple, which will be near perihelion. The comet is expected to brighten to near naked eye visibility.
The Chicken Littles of the world, who will only become aware of this probe when NASA actually launches it, will get all twitterpated, and claim a NASA conspiracy, and scream for the probe to be stopped in case the comet gets diverted to Earth. They will be unable to understand basic Newtonian mathematics and realise the impactor cannot divert the path of the comet to hit Earth, so they will claim that it WAS going to hit, and NASA is secretly diverting it. However, the previous sentence still applies.

LET THE CONSPIRACY CLAIMS BEGIN!

AUGUST: Venus will be occulted by the Moon (8th)
Jupiter will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (10th)
Antares will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (14th)

New age nitwits will claim this is the first time in history these events have happened this close together, not realising that it's rare, but not unprecedented.

SEPTEMBER: Venus will be AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (7th) Antares will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (11th) See all of the above.

OCTOBER: Solar Eclipse (3rd)
Antares will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (8th) As above

NOVEMBER: Antares will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (4th)

DECEMBER: MARS will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (12th) Antares will AGAIN be occulted by the Moon (29th)

BY the way, many of the occultations of the planets are "daytime" events, and you will need a *very* good telescope to pick up the bright ones, and others will be practically impossible to see. Received on Mon Dec 06 2004 - 13:11:57 PST