THE PLANETARY CONJUNCTION

Otago Witness, Issue 3430, 9 December 1919, Page 45

THE PLANETARY CONJUNCTION

ALLAYING ALARM. (FaOU OtIS OWM COWRMPOKDEXT.) WELLINGTON, December 2. The recent prediction by an American astronomer about unearthly storms on this planet, as the result of seven other planets being in conjunction on December 17, has frightened many people here. "There are lots of them down on their knees out our way," said a suburban resident to me the other day, while in some instances people have even gone the length of placing their valuables in greater security than they are supposed to be in at present. The acting Government Meteorologist has done something meantime to calm the shattered nerves of such people. People have been calling upon him and telephoning him for "some reassuring word," and he has given it to them. Long-distance weather forecasting, he points out, is not an exact science. Indeed, the weather cannot be predicted with any great degree of certainty for more than 48 hours. Since the public desire is for Jong-range prediction, there may be found, savs the assistant astronomer, in nearly all countries individuals who attempt to satisfy this desire, and theu- predictions are sometimes published in magazines, and ■ ven in newspapers. Some years ago, in America, one such forecast oaused such a stir in a certain town that the day before the storm was supposed to arrive many people abandoned their homes and left the place. Beyond that nothing happened. With regard to astronomical control cf the weather, if there is such an influence, it is so slight that it cannot be taken into consideration in weather forecasting. People should not concern themselves when longrange forecastings are published, as they often have been in the past, and, I sup-

pose, will be in the future, but the official meteorological organisations never countenance such knowing it to be impossible to look so far ahead.