Doomsday: Nasa busts 21/12 apocalypse myth

EMIRATES 24/7 [19/12/12]

The day will mark just another ‘winter solstice’

Sorry Mayan Doomsday believers – the world is not going to end in two days, on the 21st of December, 2012, whatever anyone told you.

Fine, don’t believe us, but you’ll be hard-pressed to refute US space agency Nasa’s elaborate debunking of the rumour that may soon be finding its way to your UAE smartphone or mailbox, if it hasn’t already.

“The world will not end 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,” says Nasa in its full-length feature on the subject, titled ‘Beyond 2012: Why the World Won't End’.

“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,” Nasa insists.

“December 21, 2012, won’t be the end of the world as we know, however, it will be another winter solstice,” says the agency.

“Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the claims behind the end of the world quickly unravel when pinned down to the 2012 timeline,” Nasa explains.

Nasa maintains that the story of the so-called prediction 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 and 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,” Nasa says.

As for why the Mayan Calendar ends on December 21, 2012, Nasa has a clear answer: “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.”

There still have been rumours, some of which squarely blame Nasa for predicting a “total blackout” on Earth from December 23 to December 25, 2012. Nasa, however, takes pains to trash such runours.

“Absolutely not. Neither Nasa nor any other scientific organisation is predicting such a blackout. The false reports on this issue claim that some sort of ‘alignment of the Universe’ will cause a blackout. There is no such alignment.

“Some versions of this rumor cite an emergency preparedness message from Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden. This is simply a message encouraging people to be prepared for emergencies, recorded as part of a wider government preparedness campaign. It never mentions a blackout. ( Watch that video here).

Okay, so doomsday aside, is there any real danger of an asteroid or a meteor hitting us anytime soon? “The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare,” says Nasa.

It has happened before, the space agency admits, but millions of moons ago. “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,” it says.

“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 Near-Earth Object Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.”