‘Jupiter Effect’ might shake us in 1982

Press, 9 May 1979, Page 23

‘Jupiter Effect’ might shake us in 1982

Astronomers have wai..eu i 982 may oe a year of earthquakes and weather changes because of a phenomenon which occurs only' once every 179 years — the Jupiter

Effect. In February of that year, all the planets in tne solar system will be aligned on the same side of the Sun, and will present the full might of

their gravitational line-up to the Sun. The Sun will react, pricked into action by ..s planets. Its magnetic activity will increase; huge storms of sunspots

and solar flares far into space will follow. High above the Earth, the atmosphere will be affected, radio communications will be disturbed and weather patterns will

change as wind directions in the upper atmosphere are sharply altered. Most potentially devastating of all, astronomers are warning, will be the brake put on the speed of

the planet’s rotation. "A jolt may be given and if that happens, then all hell could break loose where the Earth’s crust is already under strain,” says John Ebdon, director of the London Planetarium.

The phenomenon has been dubbed the Jupiter Effect because that planet is the largest in the solar system, bigger than a thousand Earths and more than twice the mass of all the other planets combined. It will be the largest single factor in the gravitational teasing of he Sun.

Two scientists, John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann, have produced a hypothesis that there is a direct link between earthquakes and planetary alignment. They say that as far as records can reveal, whenever there has been a planetary line-up in the past there have been earthquakes.

Among the places most at risk are countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean where an extensive earthquake belt runs from South America up to

North America, across to Asia and then down into the South Pacific. San Francisco, built on the San Andreas fault in California, has already been destroyed by one earthquake tnis century. It is already known that by disturbing the equilibrium of the Earth, other planets can trigger earthquakes on our planet. The two scientists have published a book with their grim warning and backed it with scientific findings, while John Ebdon has included the Jupiter Effect in his daily show, “Omens,” at the London Planetarium. Essentially, this deals with superstitions and omens, or what people interpret as omens, such as the appearance of a comet or a red moon, which was always taken to portend war.

His warning on the possible devastating events of 1982, however, has frightened people in a way the superstitions and omens of the past never could.

“A lot of people haven’t heard the words ‘max’ or

‘possibly’ which make al! the difference,” he says. “Some people have reacted vehemently — I had one woman phoning me blaming me for making her baby incontinent.”

He has also been accused of mocking God. The over-all reaction has been good, however, and the show has certainly proved to be popular: in one recent week' more than 8000 people saw it and it is planned to extend “Omens" until the summer.

Believers in the astrological powers of the stars and planets will also read into the planetary line-up of 1982 potential catastrophe, for in February of that year, the Sun will be in Capricorn with Mercury and Venus, Jupiter will be in the sign of Libra, and Saturn and Mars will be in Virgo.

Only the events of 1982 will be able to confirm whether the astronomers and astrologists, in rare conjunction, are right in their dire warnings about that year — (World Features).