I had a colleague of mine email me about a supposed planetary alignment with the Giza Pyramids which happens only once in 2,737 years. According to the part of the post I was sent, it happens on 3 December local time and has something to do with the ‘…12-12-12’ Ascension. She wanted to know if there was anything special happening …. say at the very least were the planets aligned like this.
So the first answer is, not there is nothing special (or should I say world ending happening). And yes, the planets really are lined up like the above chart, and are really that easy to see (i.e. with your unaided eyes). Strictly speaking I should point out that the planets are really nowhere near each other and that the fact that they appear to be in a line, has to do with the fact that planets orbit the Sun in approximately the same plane (picture a really big dinner plate with the Sun at the centre of it). This plane is called the ecliptic by astronomers. You can read more about the ecliptic here on Wikipedia. From our Earth centered point of view, the Sun exactly follows this line, and the planets are always located near it or on it.
Information about other December 2012 sky events can be found here on my website.
