Will the world end December 21, 2012? (be logical)
(This myth does nothing but scare children and promote a movie)
The myth that the world will end in December 2012 started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is heading toward Earth. Zecharia Sitchin, who writes fiction about the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer, claimed in several books (e.g., The Twelfth Planet, The Stairway to Heaven, The End of Days) that he has found and translated Sumerian documents that identify a planet — Nibiru — orbiting the Sun every 3,600 years. Sitchin’s Sumerian fables include stories of astronauts visiting Earth from an alien civilization called the Anunnaki.
After these books appeared, Nancy Lieder, a self-declared psychic, wrote on her web site ZetaTalk that the inhabitants of a fictional planet orbiting the nearby star Zeta Reticuli warned her that Earth was in danger from Nibiru. The prediction said the collision of Nibiru and Earth would occur in May 2003.
When nothing happened in that month, claimants moved the doomsday date forward to December 2012. Only recently have people linked these two fables to the end of the Mayan long-count at the winter solstice in 2012 — hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.
Nibiru is a name in Babylonian astrology sometimes associated with the god Marduk. Scholars of ancient Mesopotamia refute Sitchin’s claims that Nibiru is a planet and that the Sumerians knew about it. Sumer was a great civilization, but they left few astronomical records. They had no understanding that the planets orbited the Sun. That idea first developed in ancient Greece two millennia after the end of Sumer.
Some people claim NASA found Nibiru in 1983 using the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS), which carried out a 10-month sky survey. IRAS cataloged 350,000 infrared sources, and initially many of these sources were unidentified. Astronomers have followed up all of these observations with more powerful instruments both on the ground and in space. The rumor about a 10th planet erupted in 1984 after a scientific paper appeared in Astrophysical Journal Letters titled “Unidentified point sources in the IRAS minisurvey.” In 1987, scientists published the identification of these mystery objects as distant galaxies. No IRAS source has ever turned out to be a planet. To an astronomer, persistent claims about a planet that is nearby but invisible are just plain silly.
Lacking facts, some collision supporters claim our government is keeping the details secret. Uh huh. If Nibiru were real, thousands of astronomers around the globe would be tracking it right now.
With all we know about this myth, why is there so much excitement then? Who is promoting such claims? The simple answer seems to be Columbia Pictures. As I write this, publicity for Columbia’s new film 2012, to be released in November 2009, is everywhere. The film’s trailer shows a tidal wave breaking over the Himalayas, with the following words: “How would the governments of our planet prepare 6 billion people for the end of the world? [long pause] They wouldn’t. [long pause] Find out the Truth. Google search 2012.”
via NASA
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Dec 21, 2012 @ 14:47:31
u should have said that earlier!
Dec 21, 2012 @ 16:35:58
You have so much wrong here I don't know where to begin – 1. The 12/21 myth did not start with the Sumerians but was an ASSUMPTION by some relating to the Mayan calendar end date 2. The Sumerians NEVER claimed they discovered Nibiru they REPORTED on knowledge passed on to them 3. The "FICTION" Sitchen wrote about was extensively studied by many mainstream scholars and continued even after Sitchen passed away 4. Many other books exist on the subject 5. Clay tablets found at the Library of the Biblical Nineveh & other are available for viewing at National Museums of London, Berlin, France etc 6. No historical record EVER stated Nibiru is to collide with Earth 7. Sumerian astronomy records 6000 years ago described all 9 planets counting Earth as the 7th counting from the outside of the solar system 8. Astrological/Horoscope records was started after the fall of Sumer by the Babylonion Priests which also then attributed the Planet Nibiru to their god Marduk 9. The Sumerians knew that the planets orbited the sun and the many of the Greek scholars actually documented that they came to this conclusion through studying Sumerian records 10. Neptune was discovered in 1846 after perturbations in the orbit indicated the existence of another celestial body beyond it as per the laws of celestial motion, due to the same calculations Pluto was discovered and subsequently indicated the existence of another celestial body beyond Pluto 11. IRAS DID find a large slowmoving body beyond Pluto but further study was impeded by its distance 12. IRAS data lead to proposals by MAINSTREAM scientists that a "death star" or planet with a highly inclined and immense elliptical orbit periodically stirs up a shower of comets that bring death and havoc to the inner solar system including Earth 13. Jordan Kare, a physicyst at the lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and a colleaque Whitmire at the time at the time suggested that the Schmidt Telescope in Australa be used with a computer scanning system called "Star Cruncher" to survey the southern skies and Whitmire stated "that if it cannot be located there astronomers might have to wait for the year 2600" to locate it when it crosses the ecliptic.