prasad1
Active member
NASA scientists took time on Wednesday (Nov. 28) to soothe 2012 doomsday fears, warning against the dark side of Mayan apocalypse rumors — frightened children and suicidal teens who truly fear the world may come to an end Dec. 21.
These fears are based on misinterpretations of the Mayan calendar. On the 21st, the date of the winter solstice, a calendar cycle called the 13th b'ak'tun comes to an end. Although Maya scholars agree that the ancient Maya would not have seen this day as apocalyptic, rumors have spread that a cosmic event may end life on Earth on that day.
Thus NASA's involvement. The space agency maintains a 2012 information page debunking popular Mayan apocalypse rumors, such as the idea that a rogue planet will hit Earth on Dec. 21, killing everyone. (In fact, astronomers are quite good at detecting near-Earth objects, and any wandering planet scheduled to collide with Earth in three weeks would be the brightest object in the sky behind the sun and moon by now.)
"There is no true issue here," David Morrison, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center, said during a NASA Google+ Hangout event. "This is just a manufactured fantasy."
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Other rumors — that the Earth's magnetic field will suddenly reverse or that the planet will travel almost 30,000 light-years and fall into the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy — were also dismissed. (A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles, or 10 trillion km.)
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Ultimately, concerns about Earth's fate would be better focused on slow-acting problems such as climate change rather than some sort of cosmic catastrophe, said Andrew Fraknoi, an astronomer at Foothill College in California.
Mitzi Adams, a heliophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, agreed.
"The greatest threat to Earth in 2012, at the end of this year and in the future, is just from the human race itself," Adams said.
2012 Mayan Apocalypse Rumors Have Dark Side, NASA Warns - Yahoo! News
These fears are based on misinterpretations of the Mayan calendar. On the 21st, the date of the winter solstice, a calendar cycle called the 13th b'ak'tun comes to an end. Although Maya scholars agree that the ancient Maya would not have seen this day as apocalyptic, rumors have spread that a cosmic event may end life on Earth on that day.
Thus NASA's involvement. The space agency maintains a 2012 information page debunking popular Mayan apocalypse rumors, such as the idea that a rogue planet will hit Earth on Dec. 21, killing everyone. (In fact, astronomers are quite good at detecting near-Earth objects, and any wandering planet scheduled to collide with Earth in three weeks would be the brightest object in the sky behind the sun and moon by now.)
"There is no true issue here," David Morrison, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center, said during a NASA Google+ Hangout event. "This is just a manufactured fantasy."
.......
Other rumors — that the Earth's magnetic field will suddenly reverse or that the planet will travel almost 30,000 light-years and fall into the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy — were also dismissed. (A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles, or 10 trillion km.)
.......
Ultimately, concerns about Earth's fate would be better focused on slow-acting problems such as climate change rather than some sort of cosmic catastrophe, said Andrew Fraknoi, an astronomer at Foothill College in California.
Mitzi Adams, a heliophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, agreed.
"The greatest threat to Earth in 2012, at the end of this year and in the future, is just from the human race itself," Adams said.
2012 Mayan Apocalypse Rumors Have Dark Side, NASA Warns - Yahoo! News
,feeling more tensed to plan ahead. my kids are really worring --AMMA WHAT CAN /HAVE WE DO AFTER DECEMBER SINCE WE ALL WILL GET OVER!!!:help:! :noidea:! .this is a topic they started when I planned for their coming exams, O M G,I sir do not know how to react to this all in a sudden ,as my younger will plan to dodge the time table that I give them ,but I can see her fear in her eyes ,then I just pat her and said not to worry,so the topic end with a small chocolates treat.Many of my paedo patients (12 years below) give this same expressions ,as I plan their treatment for 3rd week of december,OH !!DOCTOR!! how we can plan on that date..:fear:. .Thanks sir for your posting.
