NASA Debunks the 2012 Doomsday

Unless you have been in a coma for an extended period, you have heard about the interpretation of the end of the Mayan long count calendar, as a doomsday event prediction.

If this is your cup of tea...fine. I really don't want a heart to heart with a true believer on the coming apocalypse, but I thought it might be entertaining to look at some of the ways that have been put forth, that would bring about the end of times.

There is of course the rogue planet "Nibiru" or "Planet X". (from the msnbc article)

• Self-proclaimed Nibiru expert Nancy Lieder, who says she is in contact with the aliens from Zeta Reticuli, first said Nibiru would cause widespread disaster in May 2003, only to change it to Dec. 21, 2012.

Astronomer Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program say that Planet X is the darling child of pseudo-scientists "who don't seem bothered by a complete lack of evidence,".

You really have to like this one... because it really highlights how much common sense someone has to ignore to support their belief system.  Case in point is that any body capable of destroying Earth would have to be in the magnitude of the Mars sized impactor that created Earth's moon is a pretty difficult thing to hide this late in the game.  Something that big and that close would already be visible to the naked eye.  But what about something smaller, say the size of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago?   "There are no known near-Earth objects in 2012 that present a credible risk to Earth," Yeomans said. "None, zero, zip, nada."

Or how about this cosmic alignment that is to take place December 21st? The sun will align with the center of the galaxy and Earth and this alignment will bring about radical change on Earth.  My problem is that doesn't this already happen twice a year anyway?

How about the poles flip flopping causing compasses to go haywire and magnetic sensitive animals would get lost and possibly die out.   This one is interesting because there is evidence that the magnetic poles have flopped in the past.  Fortunate for us, our over-sized moon helps support the Earth's poles from wild perturbations so that leave magnetic poles.  Their period of reversals is about 500,000 years, not between reversals but once the process begins...yep, extremely slllooooooooooooooooooooooow.   "... no evidence of a flip on Dec. 21, 2012" states astronomer Yeomans.  

Still in the face of evidence to the contrary, some are continuing to become more and more frantic about the coming world destruction.  Read the complete MSNBC article here for more.