Question about December 21 2012?
I used to think it was BS, but then i heard that the reason the Mayans predicted this date was because they saw a galactic cycle we are in, where ever...
I used to think it was BS, but then i heard that the reason the Mayans predicted this date was because they saw a galactic cycle we are in, where every 26000 years we get as close as we ever get to the massive black hole in the center our galaxy (i have no idea how they knew this, but they made other shocking discoveries about the cosmos with their limited technology), and i heard a couple of scientist confirm this cycle. And what this will do is it will cause a gravitational change, which will cause the planets to align. And this gravitational change will cause the tides to go crazy, fault lines to go haywire, volcanoes to erupt (including the super volcanoes), massive solar flares from the sun, and this would upset everything. Think about it, the western US covered in ash, almost every major city is on a fault line, the solar flares would cause a massive EMP for half the world (probably the entire world, because this gravitational change is suppose to last for 2-5 days), and that would wipe out the internet (so all transportation is gone, so food is gone, and we are 9 meals away from anarchy at any given time). And obviously all of this would cause the major change in humanity that the Mayans said would happen. A new chapter in humanity. So, my question is, have you heard this theory before? What do you think of it?
<QUOTE>i heard that the reason the Mayans predicted this date was because they saw a galactic cycle we are in</QUOTE>
1) From whom did you hear that prediction? The Mayans? Or from someone saying that the Mayans said it?
2) What *IS* that galactic cycle we are in? You speak as if you know what you’re talking about, so I trust you can explain what you mean by "galactic cycle".
<QUOTE>where every 26000 years we get as close as we ever get to the massive black hole in the center our galaxy</QUOTE>
Dude, the Sun completes an orbit around the Milky Way center every 220 million years. Please explain that 26000 years cycle.
<QUOTE>i have no idea how they knew this</QUOTE>
Here’s a possibility that I want you to consider: it wasn’t the Mayans who said it, but rather someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about and that also is preying on your ignorance.
<QUOTE>and i heard a couple of scientist confirm this cycle.</QUOTE>
*WHICH* *SCIENTISTS* ?
We want names, and links; I’m admitting you read it from the Internet, so post the link to the webpage you read it from so that we can check it too.
<QUOTE>And what this will do is it will cause a gravitational change,</QUOTE>
How much of a gravity change?
Do you even have ANY idea of the magnitude of the forces involved?!
Here’s a hint: if you already learnt how to calculate forces using Newton’s law of gravitation, go pick a calculator. a couple of paper sheets and a pencil. Next, calculate:
1) the force with which the Earth pulls you to it. (Mass of Earth: 6E24kg, distance to center =6400km).
2) the force with which the Moon pulls you to it. (Mass of the Moon: 7E22kg, distance = 380E3km).
3) the force with which the Sun pulls you to it. (Mass of the Sun: 2E30kg, distance = 150E6km).
4) the force with which the planet Jupiter pulls you to it. (Mass of Jupiter: 2E27kg, distance = about 600E6km on closest approach).
5) the force with which the black hole at the center of the Milky Way pulls you to it. (Mass of the GBH = 1E37kg, distance = 3E17km).
Remember that the gravitational constant G=6.62E-11. If you forgot how to calculate that force, use this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton‘s_law_of_universal_gravitation The expression is right at the beginning.
I’m serious: set aside 5 minutes and actually go do the calculations by yourself! See for yourself how much larger or smaller those numbers are relative to what you feel on the surface of the Earth.
It’s the only way you’ll be able to convince yourself that those crackpots are taking advantage of your ignorance. So stop that attack on your intelligence.
<QUOTE>have you heard this theory before? </QUOTE>
Boy, did we "hear about it"!… That’s the undertstatement of the week.
How do you think the regulars get so many points on this forum?! It seems every time someone mentions "2012", the Yahoo Answers page selects THIS FORUM to post the question!!!… On my last count, there have been 150 THOUSAND mentions of "2012" on this forum (Astronomy & Space).
<QUOTE>What do you think of it?</QUOTE>
Top-grade bullsh**.
Here kid, read this: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-2012-questions-and-answers Skip to question 12 if you’re in a hurry.
For a more detailed explanation, read this: http://www.2012hoax.org/
İn all honesty, i think the 2012 thing is bs. But theres a little tiny very small part of me which actually thinks the world will end at that date. Guess well see next year!
We are way to far from the black hole in the center of the galaxy to cause any problems like that. The best theory i’ve heard has to do with the shift in magnetic poles that does happen.
The Mayans also viewed large scale environmental/astronomical changes to be "in-tune" with society and social change. The fact that their calendar may "end" on this date in accordance to whatever galactic event they predicted to happen, may just mean that they viewed it as a turning point for social change/order within their society.
It’s just when we interpret this and many other things in any way possible to make it seem like our end of the world theories are all coming together that people get all flustered
Yes, I’ve heard this theory before. It is lovely knitting of strands of yarn woven into a mass of nothing. The Maya did not predict the "galactic cycle" — the 26000 year cycle is the nutation of the Earths spin and it won’t be the first time the Earth will have gone around this cycle.
I think the important part of your statement is "I have no idea how they knew this…", and neither do any scientists who’ve studied this.
None of the proposed "end of world" scenarios for December 2012 have any scientific basis.
The Maya did not predict the end of the world — any more than Pope Gregory did when he developed our current calendar. The Maya "year" is called a "tun", and 20 of these is called a "katun". 20 katun is called a "baktun", about 4000 years, and on December 21, 2012, the 13th baktun will end, and on December 22, the 14th baktun will begin. This is just like December 31, 2000, the end of the 20th century and second millenium, and January 1, 2001, the beginning of the 21st century and third millenium. (I guess the Maya didn’t wear closed-toe shoes, as they counted by 20s instead of 10s.)
Planetary alignments and galactic alignments? No special planetary alignment occurs this year. Every year at the time of the Winter Solstice, the same alignment occurs, and nothing has happened. Back in December, 2004, there was an alignment such that in the early morning, Mercury was near the Eastern horizon, Venus was a bit above that, then Mars, Jupiter and Saturn each higher than the previous across the zodiac. With all these planets on the same side of the Earth-Sun line, nothing happened.
There are no known comets or asteroids or other objects expected to impact the Earth in the future, but astronomers continue to search, observe and calculate orbits to monitor any objects which are likely to collide with Earth.
Same kind of discussion applies about any other "reason" for it.
Given all the above, I recommend the following:
1. Don’t run up your credit cards and other debts expecting that you won’t have to pay them back after December 2012.
2. Don’t skimp on your studies because you thought that by the end of 2012 it won’t matter!
3. Remember that "I read on the internet that the world was going to end, so I didn’t buy any Christmas presents" will sound really lame on Christmas morning.
4. This list could continue indefinitely…
Virtually everything you’ve written is nonsense.
So the Mayans knew about a massive black hole, did they? Perhaps there was a Steven Hawking among them. I should point out that at the same time they thought the world was flat and carried on the back of a giant turtle. Also, they never even invented the wheel.
All this question shows is that you’ve swallowed a bunch of doomsday hogwash from a crank website.
So you used to think it was BS? You were right the first time.
While it’s true we travel around the galaxy in an ellipse, and so have a closest approach to the center, the difference is negligible. It’s like being one mile closer to China–yes technically it’s closer than you were, but it really doesn’t matter.
The planets never align perfectly, but they do line up reasonably close from time to time. And whenever they do, some people predict catastrophe due to the increased gravitational pull. This is the same as the item above–yes it’s technically more pull, but a tiny tiny amount. Because they’re so far away, the other planets have little pull on us–if you total them up, they make about 1% of the Moon’s pull.
The planets lining up also won’t affect solar activity. The Earth is tiny compared to Jupiter, but Jupiter is tiny compared to the Sun. The planets have very little effect on it.
The Mayans didn’t predict disaster in 2012. Their calendar cycles over to a new bak’tun then, just like ours rolled over from 1999 to 2000. Everyone expected disaster then too, btw. You might recall it as the day the world didn’t end. The same kind of thing is going on–don’t fall for it.
You are so far behind on the news, its a wonder you can write at all.
1. The real mayans never predicted anything about Dec.21, 2012.
2. The 26,000 year cycle has nothing to do with the galaxy. It is the precession of Earth’s rotation axis, which is easily explained using only the imperfect shape of the planet (the equatorial bulge) and the gravity of the Sun. It is a relatively simple first-term homework in physics, in course that deal with gyroscopes.
3. Scientists will confirm that there exists a precession cycle (the Greeks already knew about it over 2000 years ago), but they know that it has nothing to do with the Big 2012 Hoax.
4. The "Mayan predictions" dealing with 2012 were ALL invented after 1987 (except for the lie about the end of their calendar — that lie was invented in 1987). Most of the lies were invented during the summer of 2003.
5. The gravitational change causing tides to go crazy, fault lines to go haywire, etc., was already part of the 1974 hoax called The Jupiter Effect, written for the 1982 planetary alignment (the alignment did take place, but the rest of the crap did not). It was "copied and pasted" into the Big 2012 Hoax during the summer fo 2003. There will be no planetary alignment in 2012.
6. The massive solar flare was invented for a movie called "knowing". It is physically impossible. What is possible (and actually happened in March 1989) is that a Coronal Mass Ejection (definitely not a flare, but connected to flares) did cause a power failure for nine hours, affecting six million people. Total number of deaths = 0.
Since then, all civilized countries have installed protection systems to prevent this from happening again. The USA? maybe not (the power distribution is meant to run a profit – you can’t go around wasting money of protection systems).
7. Since the Mayans did NOT predict any of this, then that part is moot. The "major change in humanity" was actually predicted by astrologers for the Age of Aquarius, which most of them agree will be in or after the year 2085, the same year that the fake planet Nibiru will return, according to its original inventor. It was then added to the fake "end of the Mayan calendar" by José Argüelles (born in Minnesota), the guy who invented the fake end of the calendar in 1987 but, more importantly, had "declared himself" to be a reincarnated Mayan god, back in 1972 (the New-Age garbage, started at the end of the 1960s, was still going strong at the time, so José saw a good opportunity to tie it in to the Mayans, since little was known about their civilization back then).
So my answer is: It is not even a "theory". It is all part of the Big 2012 Hoax, started during the Summer of 2003, by the same charlatans who had just finished running the Planet-X hoax (we all died on May 13, 2003).
By now, you should have an idea of what I "think" of it. Because I was already following the earlier hoaxes (I even bought the book about The Jupiter Effect in 1974), then I saw the Big 2012 Hoax being born.
OK HONESTLY people its all BS, If we we’re to be destroyed by some BLACK HOLE don’t you think NASA would have informed us that we are in a Presents of a BLACK HOLE?, WHO gives a Crap about some Calender, that Calender to me has no significent Point for Earth coming to an End, Did they Also predict that for the other planets for in your Universe? ( The way when they said that all the planets are suspose to Align had me LOL’ing). Yea I’ll give them credit on the mathmatical predictions but THERE IS ALWAYS room for ERROR and MISTAKES, MATH Doesn’t Predict the END of the WORLD, Thats like me saying who is going to Die on Earth soon on: What day, What time what Month and Year.
That Calender to me is like a Foolish verison of a cheap scam Pyschic if you ask me.
Except, the Mayans NEVER made such a prediction at all. It’s a modern invention.
Not that this would matter. Your premise for the effects this would have is basically horse crap. A VW beetle in orbit would exert more force upon the Earth. F=GMm/R^2. And that’s a lot of R. There are no "supervolcanoes" primed to erupt (particularly not Yellowstone); without the pressure, they can’t be "supervolcanoes". Your interpretations of what solar flares are is basically nonsensical and fictional.
Your premise basically boils down to BECAUSE IT’S MAGIC.
And in reality, it isn’t.