NASA is so sure there will be a December 22, 2012, it has
already posted a YouTube video titled "Why the World Didn't
End Yesterday."
Scientists say rumours on social media and the Internet of
Earth's premature demise have been prompted by a
misunderstanding of the ancient Maya calendar, which runs
through December 21, 2012.
"It's just the end of the cycle and the beginning of the new
one. It's just like on December 31, our calendar comes to an
end, but a new calendar for the next year begins on Jan. 1,"
Don Yeomans, head of NASA's Near-Earth Object programme at
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said
in a separate YouTube video.
According to the story circulating on the Internet, an
enormous rogue planet called Niburu is on a collision course
with Earth.
"If it were, we would have seen it long ago and it if were
invisible somehow, we would have seen its effects on the
neighboring planets. Thousands of astronomers who scan the
night skies on a daily basis have not seen this," Yeomans
said.
Still, thousands of mystics and New Age dreamers have
descended on ancient Maya temples across Mexico and Central
America hoping to witness the birth of a new era when the day
dubbed "end of the world" dawns on Friday.
So is NASA covering up to prevent panic?
"Can you imagine thousands of astronomers keeping the same
secret from the public for several years?" Yeomans said.
Initially, Niburu, also known as Planet X, was to impact in
May 2003, but when that didn't happen the doomsday date was
moved to coincide with the end of one of the cycles of the
ancient calendar at winter solstice -- December 21, 2012.
Other celestial events that will not be happening: a
planetary alignment causing a massive tidal surge or a total
blackout of Earth; a reversal in Earth's rotation; an impact
by a giant asteroid; a giant solar storm.
"Since the beginning of recorded time, there have been
literally hundreds of thousands of predictions for the end of
the world," Yeomans said. "We're still here."
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