What are the effects of galactic alignment?

The term "galactic alignment" usually refers to times when the Sun, as viewed from Earth, passes within a short distance of the dark band of the Milky Way. When this happens, the Sun appears to be close to the constellation Sagittarius. This has no measurable effect on Earth.

An alignment between Earth, the Sun and the center of the galaxy was promoted as one of the many doomsday scenarios of 2012. Given that the galactic center is around 30,000 light-years distant, far too distant to have a noticeable effect on Earth relative to the Sun's influence and that this alignment happens every year without incident, the change in apparent position of the Sun seems to be the only effect of this alignment.