The millennium starts off with a near bang when the first of an armada of asteroids swings by. In August 2000 Mithra will pass within 5 million miles of Earth, says Marsden. But that’s just a warm-up. The asteroid Toutatis will come within 1 million miles in September 2004. In February 2060 Nereus (no pun intended) closes to a mere 800,000 miles. The closest approach will be Hathor, which will zip past us from only 700,000 miles away in October 2069 and 600,000 miles in October 2086. You’ll need at least binoculars to see these rocks, since they are not very bright. But will you need a bomb shelter? Astronomers calculate an asteroid’s trajectory by starting with its past and present positions. Slight inaccuracies in where-it-is can balloon into huge mistakes in where-it-will-be, so astronomers hope they have a good fix on Hathor. Then again, maybe a million-mile mistake won’t matter: by 2060 the United States may have put in place the long-debated system for nuking incoming celestial bodies.
The solar system’s most famous wanderer, Halley’s comet, is due for a return engagement in late July 2061. “But it will be a pretty lousy show,” says Marsden, “even worse than 1986.” That’s because at the comet’s closest approach–about 50 million miles–the frozen dust ball will be between Earth and the sun and thus very difficult to see. (If you want to witness a better Halley show, talk to your local cryogenics lab: the May 2154 visit should be spectacular.) Lesser-known comets will hold the stage until then. Schwassmann-Wachmann $ comes within 8 million miles in 2006; five years later Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova passes within, 6 million miles. Both should sweep the sky with glowing tails.
Not since the 19th century have earthlings witnessed a “transit of Venus.” In 1874 and 1882, our sister planet passed between Earth and the sun in such a position that its disc could be seen sliding slowly across the sun. The 20th century has witnessed no such show. But in June 2004 and June 2012, Venus’s passage across the sun will be visible with the naked eye (protected with a filter like that used for viewing solar eclipses). The planet will cover almost 4 percent of the sun’s disc and its stately transit should last about six hours, calculates amateur observer Richard Talcott of Astronomy magazine. Though it lacks the drama of a total solar eclipse, a transit of Venus makes up for it in rarity.
New Agers are preparing to bolt down their furniture in preparation for the “Millennial Alignment” of May 5, 2000. Like the much ballyhooed “Jupiter Effect” of 1982, in which a planetary alignment was supposed to cause tidal waves and other cataclysms, the 2000 alignment will see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn arrayed over a slice of sky 30 degrees wide (about one twelfth of the total sky), with the latter two planets on a nearly straight line with the sun, says astronomer Alan Fiala of the U.S. Naval Observatory. Earth will be on the opposite side of the sun. But ignore forecasts that this arrangement will induce huge gravitational tugs on Earth: the extra pull will be no more than .01 percent of normal tidal forces. Need more evidence that all will be right with the heavens in the new millennium? Look to Pluto. The “outermost” planet has recently been spending its time inside the orbit of Neptune (to the delight of schoolkids gloating over a mistake in their science books). That anomaly vanishes in 1999, when Pluto returns to its rightful place as the ninth planet, just in ..MR.-
[EBSCO is reproducing the article exactly as it appears in the magazine.] ..MR0-
It’s Not the End of the World. Sorry.
NEW AGE MILLENNIALISTS CLAIM the world will end in 2012, because that’s what they think the ancient Mayan calendar says. The odometer-like calendar has a base day, 13.0.0.0.0 (Aug. 13, 3114 B.C.), which marked the fourth creation of the cosmos. On Dec. 23, 2012, the calendar will again hit 13.0.0.0.0. End of fourth creation. Pffft.
What they don’t realize: archeologists have deciphered Mayan texts showing that on the crucial date the universal order will be reinforced, not destroyed. The Mayan calendar actually advances well into the 50th century. Says Linda Schele, a Mayan expert at the University of Texas at Austin, “The ancient Maya would be celebrating it if they were here to see it.”
