No worries about 2012'''

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… So here is
the scientific reality on the celestial
happenings in the year 2012.
Nibiru, a purported large object
headed toward Earth, simply put -
does not exist. There is no credible
evidence - telescopic or otherwise -
for this object's existence. There is
also no evidence of any kind for its
gravitational affects upon bodies in
our solar system.
I do however like the name Nibiru. If
I ever get a pet goldflish (and I just
may do that sometime in early 2013),
Nibiru will be at the top of my list.
The Mayan calendar does not end
in December 2012. 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 are no credible predictions
for worrisome astronomical
events in 2012. The activity of the
sun is cyclical with a period of
roughly 11 years and the time of the
next solar maximum is predicted to
occur in the period 2010 – 2012.
However, the Earth routinely
experiences these periods of
increased solar activity – for eons -
without worrisome effects. The Earth’s
magnetic field, which deflects charged
particles from the sun, does reverse
polarity on time scales of about
400,000 years but there is no
evidence that a reversal, which takes
thousands of years to occur, will
begin in 2012. Even if this several
thousand year-long magnetic field
reversal were to begin, that would not
affect the Earth’s rotation nor would it
affect the direction of the Earth’s
rotation axis… only Superman can do
that.
The only important gravitational
tugs experienced by the Earth are
due to the moon and sun. 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.
The predictions of doomsday or
dramatic changes on December
21, 2012 are all false. Incorrect
doomsday predictions have taken
place several times in each of the
past several centuries. Readers
should bear in mind what Carl Sagan
noted several years ago;
"extraordinary claims require
extraordinary evidence."
For any claims of disaster or dramatic
changes in 2012, the burden of proof
is on the people making these claims.
Where is the science? Where is the
evidence? There is none, and all the
passionate, persistent and profitable
assertions, whether they are made in
books, movies, documentaries or
over the Internet, 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.