Since ancient times people, and whole civilizations have been convinced that the movements of the planets affect significant worldly events, and still in the late 19th century many people still held on to that ancient traditional belief system. We are clearly far more wise now. We just have to read the latest fascinating articles about the latest 'starlet de jour''s wild and crazy antics trending on twitter, to see how much mental progress we've made in the last 130 years, since the 1880s.
Below is an article from the the NY Times (via the London Telegraph) that was published in 1880. People of the day were concerned about the quadruple Perihelions of the Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The article makes a special point to reassure the general public that they had nothing at all to worry about, and the movement of the planets never hurts nobodies, and has no effects on Earth.
From 1880...
Four Planets in Perihelion
JUPITER, URANUS, SATURN, AND NEPTUNE APPROACHING THE SUN TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 172 YEARSFrom the London Telegraph
"Astronomers tell us that we are entering upon a period when an occurrence will take place in the heavens which has not been known for more than eighteen centuries. The four largest of the planetary bodies, Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, and Neptune, are approaching their perihelion point in space, are sweeping in their gigantic orbits nearer and nearer to the sun, and their simultaneous approximation to the central mass of the solar system has inspired some minds with fears as to the possible results to that particular planet on which we dwell.
There is no need for any anxiety, however, as such an event has happened several times before [sic]....without causing the smallest inconvenience to any human being...."
Click here to read the rest of the article...
Some of us now know that humans have been right for at least thousands of years, and our little crusty electromagnetic ball of lava, we call home, is part of a vast inter galactic weather system.
We live on an alive planet, not a dead one like Mars. For a planet to be alive, its core must be alive. Energy from the sun, galaxy and universe keeps Earth alive, as much as the air humans breath keeps us alive. Have you ever wondered why the core of the earth is still so hot after billions of years? How the Jovians manage to give off more heat energy than the total energy they receive from the sun?
Moving on...
Let's see how the London and New York media's 1880 prediction panned out over the next decade, and how silly the believers in a connection between Jovian perihelions and natural disasters must have felt:
1880
Great Gale of 1880If Pacific Northwest cyclones competed for "strongest storm on record," the final round would probably be between the windstorm of January 9, 1880, and the infamous Columbus Day Storm of 1962.
Lake Ilopango
The only historical eruption, which occurred from December 31, 1879, up to March 26, 1880, produced a lava dome and had a VEI of 3.[2] The lava dome reached the surface of the lake, forming the islets known as Islas Quemadas. The lake is globally known for being responsible for the infamous extreme weather events of 535–536.
Uranus was in perihelion 23 April 534AD.
Saturn was in perihelion 27 April 536AD.
Mauno Loa Volcano - Hawaii 1880-81 Eruption
One of the most historically voluminous eruptions of lava began at Mauna Loa on 5th November 1880. The great eruption lasted 9 months and produced three main lava flows. The eruption was not accompanied by earthquakes or ash emission. The first eruption occurred west of Red Hill at the pit crater Puka Uahi. A second lava flow diverted around Red Hill and flowed towards Kau. A third lava flow moved towards Hilo and flowed between 1852 and 1855 eruptions. This flow stopped only a quarter of a mile from Hilo.
1880 Luzon earthquakes
The earthquakes of July 1880 in Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines, was one of the most destructive tremors on record in the history of the country. The shocks continued, with greater or less interruption, from the 14th to the 25th of the month, highlighted by three violent shaking events, which destroyed churches and other buildings, producing loss of life. Coinciding with the tectonic activity was an increased in volcanic activity in Taal Volcano in southwestern Luzon.
1880 Zagreb earthquake
The 1880 earthquake which struck Zagreb (also known as The Great Zagreb Earthquake) was a 6.3 magnitude earthquake which occurred on 9 November 1880. Its epicenter was in the Medvednica mountain north of Zagreb. Although only one person was killed in the earthquake, it destroyed or damaged many buildings.
1881
1881 - Blizzard of January 1881
The Blizzard of January 1881 (17–18 January 1881) was one of the most severe blizzards ever to hit the southern parts of the United Kingdom.
Eyemouth disaster
The Eyemouth disaster was a severe European windstorm that struck the southern coast of Scotland, United Kingdom, specifically Berwickshire, on 14 October 1881. 189 fishermen, most of whom were from the village of Eyemouth, were drowned. Many citizens of Eyemouth call the day Black Friday.
Great Flood of 1881
The Great Flood of 1881 refers to flooding events on the Missouri River during the spring of 1881. The flood struck Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa between April 1, 1881 and April 27, 1881. The events provided the first detailed reporting of Missouri River flooding, and caused millions of dollars in damage.
1881 Haiphong Typhoon
The 1881 Haiphong Typhoon was a typhoon that struck Haiphong, in what is now Vietnam, on 8 October 1881, and the northern part of the Philippines. Up to 300,000 people were killed by the typhoon, which was one of the deadliest cyclonic storms in history.
1881 Chios earthquake
The 1881 Chios earthquake caused severe damage on the island of Chios, also affecting Çeşme and Alaçatı on the coast of Turkey. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.3 and there were an estimated 7,866 casualties.
Note: Chio also suffered the failure of the orange crop in 1833 (Jupiter Perihelion, same year as 1833 mega thrust earthquake in Sumatra).
1881 Nicobar Islands earthquake (close to Sumatra)
The 1881 Nicobar Islands earthquake occurred on 31 December, with an epicentre beneath Car Nicobar. It occurred as two separate ruptures, the largest of which had an estimated magnitude of 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale and triggered a tsunami that was observed around the Bay of Bengal.
1881 Minnesota tornado outbreak
The 1881 Minnesota tornado outbreak was a deadly tornado outbreak that struck southern Minnesota on July 15, 1881 through July 16, 1881.
1881 Hopkins tornado
The Hopkins Tornado of 1881 was a tornado which occurred on June 12, 1881, near Hopkins, Missouri in Nodaway County, Missouri. Although there were originally eight tornadoes, four of the tornadoes united to form what is believed to have been one of the first recorded F5 tornadoes in history.
Mount Redoubt Eruption - 1881
Redoubt Volcano, or Mount Redoubt, is an active stratovolcano in the largely volcanic Aleutian Range of the U.S. state of Alaska. A great eruption took place in 1881, when a party of native hunters half-way up its slopes were overwhelmed by a lava-flow and only two escaped."
Side note: Active for millennial, Mount Redoubt has erupted five times since 1900: in 1902 (one year prior to Saturn Storm year in 1903), 1922 (on a Earth's length of Day change axis year and 11 years prior to 1933 Saturn storm year), 1966 (solar system barycentric perihelion year), 1989 (approaching significant center of sun solar system barycenter crossing - barycentric perihelion) and 2009 (another Earth's length of Day change axis year).
1882
Colorado's Largest Historical EarthquakeWhen you think of earthquakes, Colorado is most likely not the first place that comes to mind, but in 1882 Colorado experienced is strongest earthquake recorded.
November 8, 1882
Probably in the Front Range, West of Fort Collins
Magnitude: 6.6 ± 0.6
Great Bombay Cyclone (1882)
One of the worst cyclones to hit India was the Great Bombay Cyclone. Though the Bay of Bengal in the east is the region most prone to cyclones in India, there are cyclones that have occurred from the direction of the Arabian Sea. This cyclone was one of them. The cyclone hit Mumbai (then Bombay) on June 6, 1882. The cyclone is known to have caused floods that killed at least 100,000 people in Mumbai alone.
Krakatoa
Krakatoa, is a volcanic island situated in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The explosion is considered to be the loudest sound ever heard in modern history, with reports of it being heard up to 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from its point of origin.
The name is also used for the surrounding island group comprising the remnants of a much larger island of three volcanic peaks which was obliterated in a cataclysmic 1883 eruption, unleashing huge tsunamis (killing more than 36,000 people) and destroying over two-thirds of the island. The shock waves from the explosion were recorded on barographs around the globe.
The 1883 eruption ejected approximately 21 km3 (5.0 cu mi) of rock, ash, and pumice. The cataclysmic explosion was heard in Perth in Western Australia, about 1,930 miles (3,110 km) to the south, as well as the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, about 3,000 miles (4,800 km) to the west.
According to the official records of the Dutch East Indies colony, 165 villages and towns were destroyed near Krakatoa, and 132 were seriously damaged. At least 36,417 people died, and many more thousands were injured, mostly from the tsunamis that followed the explosion. The eruption destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa.
With an estimated Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 6,[2] the eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT (840 PJ) —about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 kt) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, and four times the yield of Tsar Bomba (50 Mt), the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated.
Side note: Krakatoa also erupted in May 1680AD - Saturn was in perihelion in 1680AD, and Jupiter in 1679AD.
1883 Rochester tornado
The 1883 Rochester tornado was an F5 (estimated) tornado that hit Rochester, Minnesota on August 21, 1883. The tornado was one in a series of tornadoes that hit Southeast Minnesota on that day, causing at least 37 deaths and over 200 injuries.
1884
Enigma tornado outbreakThe 1884 Enigma outbreak is thought to be among the largest and most widespread tornado outbreaks in American history, striking on February 19–20, 1884.
1884 Colchester earthquake
The Colchester earthquake, also known as the Great English Earthquake, occurred on the morning of 22 April 1884. It caused considerable damage in Colchester and the surrounding villages in Essex. In terms of overall destruction caused it is certainly the most destructive earthquake to have hit the United Kingdom in at least the last 400 years, since the Dover Straits earthquake of 1580.
1884 Howard, South Dakota tornado
The 1884 Howard, South Dakota tornado was a very powerful tornado that occurred on August 28, 1884, near Howard, South Dakota, which was then part of the Dakota Territory.
1886
Charleston Earthquake of 1886The Charleston Earthquake of 1886 was a powerful intraplate earthquake that hit Charleston, South Carolina, and the East Coast of the US. After the 1811 and 1812 earthquakes in New Madrid, Missouri, it is one of the most powerful and damaging quakes to hit the southeastern United States.
Side note: 1812 was the year the solar system barycenter passed almost directly through the center of the sun - solar system barycentric perihelion.
1886 Sauk Rapids tornado
The 1886 Sauk Rapids Tornado was a tornado that tore through the cities of Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud, and Rice, Minnesota on April 14, 1886. It destroyed much of the town of Sauk Rapids and killed 72 people along its path. It is Minnesota's deadliest tornado on record.
Mount Tarawera 1886
Mount Tarawera is the volcano responsible for one of New Zealand's largest historic eruptions in 1886. The Pink Terraces, and the White Terraces, also known as Te Tarata ("the tattooed rock"), were natural wonders of New Zealand. They were lost, and for long after were thought to have been completely destroyed, by the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera, being replaced by the Waimangu Volcanic Rift Valley. In Auckland the sound of the eruption and the flashing sky was thought by some to be an attack by Russian warships.
Winter of 1886–87
The Winter of 1886–1887 was extremely harsh. Although it affected other regions in the United States, it is most known for its effects on the Western United States and its cattle industry. This winter marked the end of the Open Range era and led to the entire reorganization of ranching.
The summer of 1886 had been unusually hot and dry, with numerous prairie fires and water sources often dried up. In the fall, signs of a harsh winter ahead began to appear. Birds began flying south earlier than usual, beavers were seen collecting more wood than normal for the winter ahead, and some cattle even took on thicker and shaggier coats.
1887 Halloween tropical storm
The 1887 Halloween tropical storm was a powerful tropical cyclone that caused severe damage along the East Coast of the United States during Halloween of 1887. The sixteenth tropical storm of the annual hurricane season, it formed from an area of disturbed weather over the Gulf of Mexico on October 29.
1887 Sonora earthquake
The 1887 Sonora earthquake occurred on 3 May in the Teras mountain range of northwestern Mexico. It was widely felt, with some damage being recorded up to 200 kilometres (120 mi) from the epicenter in both Mexico and the United States. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.6 and caused 42 casualties in the town of Bavispe and 51 overall. It was the only historical earthquake to cause considerable damage in Arizona.
1887 Yellow River flood
The 1887 Yellow River flood was a devastating flood on the Yellow River (Huang He) in China. This river is prone to flooding due to the elevated nature of the river, running between dykes above the broad plains surrounding it. The flood that began in September 1887 inundated the area, killing some 900,000 people. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded.
1888
1888 eruption of Mount BandaiThe 1888 eruption of Mount Bandai was a major volcanic eruption which occurred during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. The eruption occurred on July 15, 1888, and pyroclastic flows buried villages on the northern foot of the mountain, and devastated the eastern part of Bandai region, Fukushima Prefecture north of Tokyo. At least 477 people were killed and hundreds more were injured and rendered homeless in what became the worst volcanic disaster in recent Japanese history.
1888 North Canterbury earthquake
The 1888 North Canterbury earthquake occurred on 1 September 1888 following a sequence of foreshocks that started the previous evening, and whose epicentre was in the North Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand.
In Christchurch, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) southeast of the epicentre, shaking lasted for 40 to 50 seconds. The magnitude of the earthquake is estimated to be in the range 7.0–7.3. Severe damage to farm buildings in the epicentral region was reported and the top 7.8 metres (26 ft) of the spire of ChristChurch Cathedral collapsed. It was the first earthquake observed to be associated with mainly horizontal fault displacement.
1888 Río de la Plata earthquake
The 1888 Río de la Plata earthquake occurred on June 5, 1888, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, and shook the upper Río de la Plata.
Side note: This was another rare intraplate earthquake in the 1880s.
Schoolhouse Blizzard
In mid-January 1888, a severe cold wave passed through the Pacific Northwest. It led to a blizzard for the northern Plains and upper Mississippi valley where many children were trapped in schoolhouses where they froze to death. This tragedy became known as the Schoolhouse Blizzard, Schoolchildren's Blizzard, or The Children's Blizzard. The blizzard came unexpectedly on a relatively warm day, and many people were caught unaware, including children in one-room schoolhouses.
The blizzard was precipitated by the collision of an immense Arctic cold front with warm, moisture-laden air from the Gulf of Mexico. Within a few hours, the advancing cold front caused a temperature drop from a few degrees above freezing to −20 degrees Fahrenheit (−40 °F/−40 °C in some places). This wave of cold was accompanied by high winds and heavy snow.
1889 Kumamoto earthquake
The 1889 Kumamoto earthquake occurred at 11.40 p.m local time on July 28, 1889 in the western part of Kumamoto.
1889 Apia cyclone
The 1889 Apia cyclone was a Pacific tropical cyclone, which swept across Apia, Samoa on March 15, 1889 during the Samoan crisis. The effect on shipping in the harbor was devastating.
The Great Flood of 1889
On May 28, 1889, a storm formed over Nebraska and Kansas, moving east. When the storm struck the Johnstown-South Fork area two days later, it was the worst downpour that had ever been recorded in that part of the country.
1880 China - coldest and driest periods
1880 marked the end of one of the coldest and driest periods in northern and central China.
In China, warm-weather crops, such as oranges, were abandoned in Jiangxi Province, where they had been grown for centuries. Also, two periods of most frequent typhoon strikes in Guangdong coincide with two of the coldest and driest periods in northern and central China (AD 1660-1680, 1850–1880).
More from the above 1880 article...
Why should we ascribe baleful powers to any conjunction of the countless host of heaven? There is really no shadow of astronomical ground for believing that the other planets exercise any sensible sway over the meteorological conditions under which we live. The perturbing power of these bodies is limited to slightly altering the elliptical orbit of the earth, and beyond that they have assumed toward our smaller planet an attitude of perfect complacency.
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