Tuesday, April 28, 2009

the year 2012 AD

for those of you worrying (needlessly) about the many end-of-the-world scenarios that have been put forth to occur (in)conveniently on the exact same day - december 21st, 2012 - there is a nice description by cameron hummels in today's podcast of 365 days of astronomy!

Summary: An increasing number of people believe that December 21, 2012 will mark the end of the world. Proponents of this idea cite diverse astronomical reasons for an imminent apocalypse: the end of the Mayan long-count calendar; an alignment between the Solar System and the Milky Way; the solar sunspot cycle reaching an all-time high; the reversal of the Earth's magnetic field; and a devastating collision with 'Planet X'. Tune in to hear to the facts and controversy surrounding this purported impending disaster.

listen here!

i will inevitably write more about this topic as the date approaches because people have asked me a lot of questions about these issues and i'd like to clarify what are facts and what are fallacies. to summarize: no, i am not worried. i have not heard a single doomsday claim that is supported by facts.

for more information, read what ian has to say at universe today.

3 comments:

heroineworshipper said...

Maybe only 1 person thought 2012 was the end of the world & all the other proponents based their date on the same Google search.

Nikky said...

oh heroineworshipper you made me laugh out loud!

i don't think the world will come to an end in 2012. I mean our calendar ends every December 31st and there is no apocalypse! i think that maybe the Mayans made their calender long so that they wouldn't have to carve it into a new stone every year!

Sara Kempff said...

ha! i've been involved in many a conversation about this!