Science: Doomsday Deferred

The day of astrological doom passed this week without global disaster. It was not even a good heavenly show. Seven planets bunched, as predicted, in the same small part of the sky, but since the sun was one of those "planets," its dazzling rays spoiled the spectacle. The moon, also a planet by astrological reckoning, got into the act too, but when it covered the sun's face, the resulting eclipse could be seen only on the watery Pacific side of the earth, where there were relatively few spectators.

Invisible or not, the great planetary conjunction chilled superstitious souls all over the world....

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