The EARTH WILL NOT be at the CENTER OF THE GALAXY on 2012

[Luke_Wilbur]

There is no planet alignment in 2012 or any other time in the next several decades. As to the Earth being in the center of the Milky Way, we will be rather far toward the edge of this spiral galaxy, some 30,000 light years from the center. There is no such object as Planet X. Also, there have been no unusual levels of earthquakes or solar flares or any other of the supposed precursors of terrestrial calamity. Contrary to what you see from some of these posts, nothing unusual is happening and scientists are not worried by such supposed events. Even more to the point, it is already evident that there is no large comet or looming planet bearing down on the Earth.

 

Doomsayers seem to pop up every few years. Remember the alignment of the planets that somehow managed not to destroy the Earth. Then there was the prediction that Planet X was going to smash into the Earth in May 2000. Now the unknown planet X is in our solar system is on a very long, elliptical orbit and will hit the Earth in December 2012. This is really funny.

 

Oh then there is the April 13, 2029 prediction that an asteroid will hit our planet. This is my son's 21st birthday. So, I am going to have a Doomsday party for him. If I have enough money, the party will be a huge monster blowout bash that everyone can enjoy.

Edited June 6, 2008 by Luke_Wilbur

[Guest David Morrison]

It is just an Internet hoax. There is no alignment with the center of the Galaxy in 2012 or any time. As to the Sun being in the center of the Galaxy, that it impossible; the Sun and solar system will always remain at about 30,000 light years from the galactic center. These stories on the Internet are simply lies, and I am sorry if they have been a problem for you. A lot of the stuff on the Internet is wrong, and you have to learn to distinguish the truth from the lies. One simple test is to ask if any of these claims are made by real scientists, or if they have been reported in newspapers or on TV news. The stories about alignments or disaster striking in 2012 do not pass this test.

 

David Morrison

NAI Senior Scientist

[Guest Strous]

My conclusion is that a new period of 13 baktuns in the Long Count of the Maya probably begins on 21 December 2012, but that we should not expect any special phenomena in the sky that are tied to that beginning.

 

It seems unlikely to me that the Maya tried to design their Long Count in such a way that the new period would start on a southern solstice in the middle of the Milky Way in their distant future, though it is not impossible.

 

If the Maya did design their Long Count with that conjunction in mind, then I do not think that they had enough knowledge to be able to predict the correct day of the conjunction accurately to better than a few dozen years, so if any special phenomena could be expected on the exact day of the conjunction, then they would probably not be visible on (or not visible just one) 21 December 2012.

 

I think that the beginning of a new period in the Long Count of the Maya in 2012 is just as unimportant as the 6000th anniversary of the Biblical creation date (celebrated in 1996), or the planetary conjunction of May 2000, or all kinds of past dates for which the end of the world had been predicted. Someone who did not hear about the prediction in advance would not have noticed anything special on those dates, and I predict that December 2012 will be like that as well.

 

The only effects that can be expected associated with the conjunction of 21 December 2012 have to do with the attention that people draw to that conjunction and date. If people expect that unusual things will happen on a certain date, then on that date they'll behave differently than usual, and that in itself is already an unusual thing. In this way they can fulfill their own expectations.

 

Only one conjunction in the sky has noticeable influence on Earth, and that is the conjunction of the Sun and the Moon. Such a conjunction happens whenever it is New Moon, and then the tidal forces of the Sun and Moon add up and we have spring tide with on average a larger difference between high and low tide than usual.

[Guest Wookie]

This 260-day calendar was prevalent across all Mesoamerican societies, and is of great antiquity (almost certainly the oldest of the calendars). It is still used in some regions of Oaxaca, and by the Maya communities of the Guatemalan highlands. The Maya version is commonly known to scholars as the Tzolkin, or Cholq'ij in the revised orthography of the Academia de las Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala. The Tzolk'in is combined with another 365-day calendar (known as the Haab, or Haab' ), to form a synchronized cycle lasting for 52 Haabs, called the Calendar Round. Smaller cycles of 13 days (the trecena) and 20 days (the veintena) were important components of the Tzolk'in and Haab' cycles, respectively.

[JT Allen]

I agree - total hoax.

 

Who's to say how long a "day" lasted millions of years ago I wonder (as an aside).