What's next?

[English_Bob]

Now some science...

Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the science behind the end of the world quickly unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline. Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions that we’re frequently asked regarding 2012.

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.

Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?

A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 — hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?

A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then — just as your calendar begins again on January 1 — another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Q: Could a phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth?

A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

“There apparently is a great deal of interest in celestial bodies, and their locations and trajectories at the end of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. There is even a fake NASA news release out there…”

- Don Yeomans, NASA senior research scientist

Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?

A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?

A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway.

Earth, as seen in the Blue Marble: Next Generation collection of images, showing the color of the planet’s surface in high resolution. This image shows South America from September 2004.

Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?

A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of pending doomsday?

A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.

Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?

A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.

Now, I know what you will do. You will skim through and then dismiss it saying, 'Well, they're paid by the government...'

Grow up and get some education.

[DANNO]

maybe entering Charlie Brown's would start that: Global Catastrophe

for the Ghost! LOL...anyway --- Come on Dave give the poor Ghost a chance...this is TF man

and let's face it CB's can use the business !

Just think... your personal and direct influence might be just what is needed to set him on the path

of the straight and righteous ... even Mr. Moobs turn out OK when ya met him...

[admin]

maybe entering Charlie Brown's would start that: Global Catastrophe

for the Ghost! LOL...anyway --- Come on Dave give the poor Ghost a chance...this is TF man

and let's face it CB's can use the business !

Just think... your personal and direct influence might be just what is needed to set him on the path

of the straight and righteous ... even Mr. Moobs turn out OK when ya met him...

[English_Bob]

maybe entering Charlie Brown's would start that: Global Catastrophe

for the Ghost! LOL...anyway --- Come on Dave give the poor Ghost a chance...this is TF man

and let's face it CB's can use the business !

Just think... your personal and direct influence might be just what is needed to set him on the path

of the straight and righteous ... even Mr. Moobs turn out OK when ya met him...

I didn't say he can't go to the restaurant. I said he eats, drinks, pays and leaves. Same as anyone.

He said he didn't want to.

I always liked Moobs. I think he's smart and funny. And I don't think I've ever argued with him.

[Stramash]

Now some science...

Now, I know what you will do. You will skim through and then dismiss it saying, 'Well, they're paid by the government...'

Grow up and get some education.

[Stramash]

Funnily enough, given Dave's post, I watched Horizon (very good BBC science programme) the other day and it was on the very subject of 'Armageddon' (end of the world scenarios). Nearly every major world religion has some sort of Armageddon prophecy. Well the religions call it prophecy, I call it sales tactics (repent the end is nigh). They ran through every possible scenario; from disease (Spanish flu, smallpox, AIDS) through meteor strike (extremely long odds for something as devastating as the dieback meteor of 65 million years ago) to a chain event of natural disasters. Man made Armageddon is, they reckon, as unlikely as Elvis being found serving chips in Bradford. Prior to the end of the cold war it was a possibility, but those days are gone. They also discounted anything to do with solar flares, polar shifts etc etc. The ONLY Armageddon theory which the scientific community gives ANY credibility to is Yellowstone. A full eruption of Yellowstone would be devastating and could see the end of up to 80% of life on Earth. The tinfoil brigade keep on that an eruption is 40,000 years overdue, but the reality is that it could fall within a 40-80000 year window. So it could be a little overdue, but more likely to be sometime in the...say...next 50,000 years or so. So maybe no need to start worrying quite yet. Come back and post on 16th May 422011 and we'll see if it's happened yet.

[DANNO]

Funnily enough, given Dave's post, I watched Horizon (very good BBC science programme) the other day and it was on the very subject of 'Armageddon' (end of the world scenarios). Nearly every major world religion has some sort of Armageddon prophecy. Well the religions call it prophecy, I call it sales tactics (repent the end is nigh). They ran through every possible scenario; from disease (Spanish flu, smallpox, AIDS) through meteor strike (extremely long odds for something as devastating as the dieback meteor of 65 million years ago) to a chain event of natural disasters. Man made Armageddon is, they reckon, as unlikely as Elvis being found serving chips in Bradford. Prior to the end of the cold war it was a possibility, but those days are gone. They also discounted anything to do with solar flares, polar shifts etc etc. The ONLY Armageddon theory which the scientific community gives ANY credibility to is Yellowstone. A full eruption of Yellowstone would be devastating and could see the end of up to 80% of life on Earth. The tinfoil brigade keep on that an eruption is 40,000 years overdue, but the reality is that it could fall within a 40-80000 year window. So it could be a little overdue, but more likely to be sometime in the...say...next 50,000 years or so. So maybe no need to start worrying quite yet. Come back and post on 16th May 422011 and we'll see if it's happened yet.

Yellowstone is too beautiful to do that to us...

My vote goes to the large space rock ....

Edited May 16, 2011 by DANNO

[Stramash]

Yellowstone is too beautiful to do that to us...

My goes to the large space rock ....

Don't count your super volcanoes till they erupt. You may (not) enjoy this. (part one of six - click to youtube for other 5 parts)

[Goodghost]

I didn't say he can't go to the restaurant. I said he eats, drinks, pays and leaves. Same as anyone.

He said he didn't want to.

I always liked Moobs. I think he's smart and funny. And I don't think I've ever argued with him.

I don't want to go because I don't know where it is. I would go if I could but I can't can I? It' s hard to go somewhere is you don't know the location.

I never argue with you too I just get abused by you so doesn't that count for something like a free buffet dinner or drinks?

I thought you did like me....anyway I am smart.

Now who is Moobs?

[admin]

Now who is Moobs?

Oh, you would love Moobs. He makes EB look tame. :-)

[English_Bob]

I don't want to go because I don't know where it is. I would go if I could but I can't can I? It' s hard to go somewhere is you don't know the location.

I never argue with you too I just get abused by you so doesn't that count for something like a free buffet dinner or drinks?

I thought you did like me....anyway I am smart.

Now who is Moobs?

No. You're not smart. That's one of the symptoms. You don't know you're stupid.

Look. You believe conspiracy theories before NASA.

You think there will be a disaster because some old Christian guy said so.

You don't understand basic science.

You don't check validity of what you read.

You think being insulted by me entitles you to some free stuff.

These are all blatantly stupid traits.

Someone should have told you before, you ARE stupid. There's nothing you can do about it - some people are just born that way.

[GoodKarma]

Oh, you would love Moobs. He makes EB look tame. :-)

Hey Bill where is Moobs I haven't seen him on in a long time is he still a member of TF...I thought it was rumored that he was kicked off of TF

somebody had said he was disbanded the 15th of march is this conspiracy rumor true?

[CiaranM]

These are all blatantly stupid traits.

Someone should have told you before, you ARE stupid. There's nothing you can do about it - some people are just born that way.

i do believe i may have pointed this out to him .....

several times !!

[admin]

Hey Bill where is Moobs I haven't seen him on in a long time is he still a member of TF...I thought it was rumored that he was kicked off of TF

somebody had said he was disbanded the 15th of march is this conspiracy rumor true?

He was a long time ago. I unbanned his account and have spoken with him a few times since then. At the moment he's playing hard to get :-)

[Goodghost]

You have the power to unban people?

It's like resurrecting the dead.

How about MarkCJ what did he do? I can't find the last post.

I need at least one guy on my side don't you think?(but I didn't agree with his ideas)

[CiaranM]

I need at least one guy on my side don't you think?

well there a number of stupid ppl on TF .... not sure if there's any that stupid though !!!

[StevieJR]

well there a number of stupid ppl on TF .... not sure if there's any that stupid though !!!

Paul the Turd?

[Goodghost]

Are you saying I'm stupid? I'm not. I'm just misunderstood and no one believes me about what I say.

[English_Bob]

Are you saying I'm stupid? I'm not. I'm just misunderstood and no one believes me about what I say.

No.. you ARE stupid.

See? Even your question 'Are you saying I'm stupid?' is stupid. It's not as though there was any doubt he was saying you are stupid. The fact that you needed to ask is further proof of your stupidity.

And then 'no one believes me about what I say.' is a stupid sentence. You have two direct objects - 'me' and 'what I say'. You should rewrite it.

Did you read what I wrote? All the evidence to show you how stupid you are?

Why don't you accept it? It's pretty clear, if you choose to believe Harold Camping as opposed to all the credible evidence, you MUST be stupid.

Once you accept you are stupid, you can try to limit how many stupid things you write or say. You can't become 'unstupid'. You can educate yourself a little so you're less ignorant.

It's a win-win situation.

[CiaranM]

Are you saying I'm stupid? I'm not. I'm just misunderstood and no one believes me about what I say.

1. u r stupid ..... really ******* stupid !!

2. we do understand u ..... we also understand that u r stupid !!

3. we don't believe what u say .... because 99% of what u say if ******* stupid and easily disproved !!!! the other 1% is just normal stupid and not worth disproving !!

[English_Bob]

1. u r stupid ..... really ******* stupid !!

2. we do understand u ..... we also understand that u r stupid !!

3. we don't believe what u say .... because 99% of what u say if ******* stupid and easily disproved !!!! the other 1% is just normal stupid and not worth disproving !!

See?

And Ciaran KNOWS stupid...

[Goodghost]

Yeah great minds think alike - Can you say lapdog?

You guys are forum bullies..... Picking on an innocent ghost. Geez ....what next?

[admin]

Next

[CiaranM]

Paul the Turd?

ok .... so there's 1 that stupid !!

[English_Bob]

You guys are forum bullies..... Picking on an innocent ghost. Geez ....what next?

According to you and Harold Camping, the end of the world.