Here are some facts for this day. You are welcome to log your interesting, quirky or fun fact/s with your log.
On This Day - March 10th 1982
The 'Jupiter Effect', in which Los Angeles is supposed to be ravaged by an immense earthquake following the alignment of the planets, fails to eventuate.
The 'Jupiter Effect' was a chain of cataclysmic events proposed by astrophysicist Dr John Gribbin and fellow author Stephen Plageman in 1974. Gribbin's theory suggested that when the nine planets of our solar system aligned in March 1982, it would trigger an enormous earthquake which would destroy Los Angeles. To summarise, the authors proposed that the tidal forces created by the alignment of all the planets on the same side of the sun would generate sunspots which would in themselves create solar flares. In turn, these solar flares would generate streams of solar particles which would then enter the earth's upper atmosphere, changing the weather, slowing the rate of the earth's rotation, and ultimately triggering earthquakes, especially on the American West Coast. Essentially, Earth would be caught in the centre of a huge gravity struggle between the sun and the other planets, particularly the gas giant Jupiter. John Gribbin retracted his own theory in the 17 July 1980 issue of New Scientist.
On 10 March 1982, the planets aligned, though not perfectly. All nine of the planets were on the same side of the sun, as predicted, but scattered over approximately 90 degrees, in what scientists call a "Grand Alignment". There were no cataclysmic disturbances, either on the earth or under it.