". . . On Dec. 21, 2012, many doomsday believers fear the apocalypse —
anything from a rogue planet smashing into us to our world spinning end
over end. However, the world should expect nothing more next year than
the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, NASA says. Many people point to the end of
the Mayan Long Count calendar on Dec. 21, 2012 as evidence of the
coming apocalypse, but astronomers have been quick to stress that there
is nothing to be concerned about. According to the ancient Mayan calendar, next year's wintersolstice
marks the end of a 144,000-day cycle. This cycle, which begins at the
mythical Maya creation date, has already been repeated 12 times. The
13th will end in 2012, capping a full 5,200-year Mayan cycle of
creation. This date has long been shrouded in mystery, with many claiming that
it will bring destruction to our planet. [End
of the World? Top Doomsday Fears]
Rogue planet Nibiru?
One fear is that a rogue planet that has been dubbed "Nibiru"
or "Planet X" is supposedly aimed at Earth. Self-proclaimed Nibiru
expert Nancy Lieder, who says she is in contact with the aliens from
Zeta Reticuli, first said Nibiru would cause widespread disaster in May
2003, only to change it to There is, however, no
evidence that Nibiru is real. "Nibiru is ridiculous because it doesn't exist — it never existed as
anything other than a figment of the imagination by pseudo-scientists
who don't seem bothered by a complete lack of evidence," astronomer Don
Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program office at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told SPACE.com.
There is no basis for the claim that it might be lurking behind the
sun, as it could not have hidden from observation until now, Yeomans
said. If such a planet was headed toward Earth by Dec. 21, 2012, it
would already be visible to the naked eye.
Cosmic alignments?
There are also concerns that planets or stars might line up
in ways that will transform Earth. For instance, some theorists claim
that from our point of view, the sun will cross in front of the plane of
our galaxy on Dec. 21. However, the sun already does this twice a year,
Yeomans said. In fact, the sun will eventually cross the plane of our galaxy.
However, the sun is about 67 light-years from the galactic plane, so it
should take several million years to do so, Yeomans said. Even then,
when our solarsystem
finally does cross the plane, nothing special will occur, he added. [10
Failed Doomsday Predictions]
Some also claim that gravitational effects from planets lining up
with each other will somehow affect Earth. However, there is no
planetary alignment due on Dec. 21, 2012, "and if there were, it
wouldn't cause any problems," Yeomans said.
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