‘Planetary alignment on 4th January, 2015 to cause gravity issues’ isn’t true
A while back you must have read of the hoax news about NASA revealing six-day darkness on Earth. Well, that news is now followed by another one, which claims that we will experience weightlessness for around five minutes on January 4, 2015.
A hoax post has been going viral on the social networking platform. The post includes a screenshot of NASA’s tweet stating that there is an inter-planetary alignment taking place on January 4, 2015 and this phenomenon will cause a gravitational imbalance on Earth, causing people and objects to float for a few minutes. The phenomenon stated that the planetary alignment will cause a minor decrease in gravity for around five minutes.
According to Gawker the original story was done by Daily Buzz Live, which is a website for occasional humour posts. The site posted an article, which states the phenomenon as below:
“Planetary Alignment On Jan 4, 2015 Will Decrease Gravity For 5 Minutes Causing Partial Weightlessness. Strange natural occurrences are happening in the world today. But nothing more magnificent than the one you will experience on January 4, 2015. According to British astronomer Patrick Moore, at exactly 9:47 PST AM on January 4th, Pluto will pass directly behind Jupiter, in relation to Earth. This rare alignment will mean that the combined gravitational force of the two planets would exert a stronger tidal pull, temporarily counteracting the Earth’s own gravity and making people virtually weightless. Moore calls this the Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational Effect. Moore told scientists that they could experience the phenomenon by jumping in the air at the precise moment the alignment occurred. If they do so, he promised, they would experience a strange floating sensation. Astronomers have long been aware that there would be an alignment of the planets on that date, when Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto would be on the same side of the sun, within an arc 95° wide. But now they are guaranteeing the occurrence as the gravitational effect of the other planets on the Earth’s crust is maximum even at their closest approach. But don’t get too excited. If you think you’ll be able to float around your house, you’re wrong. But, if you jump in the air at 9:47 AM PST, on January 4, 2015, it should take you about 3 seconds to land back on your feet instead of the usual 0.2 seconds. So, mark this date on your calendar and share it with your friends! Zero gravity day is just around the corner!” |
Gwaker notes that the website that posted this news has admitted that it occasionally publishes ‘Works of complete fiction’, which also confirms that there is no truth in the story. NASA has also denied any such ‘floating’ to happen on January 4, 2015.
