2012: End of The World?

New Year’s eve of 1999, the Y2K, people, waited for time to stop or for computers to bog down, but nothing happened. And just like a decade ago, another “end of the world” date was set: December 21, 2012, which is believed to be based on an ancient Maya prediction and fueled further by the movie 2012.

            But 2012 is just another date. The one aspect of the 2012 doomsday that’s real is fear. Fortunately, with the help of scientists, myths surrounding the 2012 doomsday are easily explained and debunked. Here is a list of debunked myths:

Myth 1.  End of Mayan Calendar- According to the myth, the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. However, according to archaeologists, the ancients never viewed that year as the end of the world but rather a momentous date. According to Anthony Aveni, a Maya expert and astronomer at Colgate University in New York, United States, that date is the time when the largest grand cycle in the Mayan calendar overturns and a new cycle begins. The idea of the new cycle is that time get renewed in the same way we renew our time every 1st of January.

Myth 2.  Breakaway Continents and Pole Shift- According to 2012 prophecies, the earth will undergo a pole shift where the earth’s crust and mantle suddenly shifts. Breakaway oceans and continents will swallow the land and cause natural disasters. But according to geologist, Adam Maloof, of Princeton University in the US, although magnetic evidences in rocks confirm that continents indeed have undergone such drastic rearrangement, the whole process took millions of years. Humans wouldn’t have felt it happening.

Myth 3.  Galactic Alignment- Some believe that a galactic alignment will occur in 2012, which will expose Earth to powerful unknown galactic forces. According to David Morrison, a senior scientist at NASA Astro-biology Institute, US, there will be no galactic alignment in 2012. There is a type of alignment that occurs when the Sun appears in the sky near what seems to be the midpoint of the Milky Way. But this alignment creates no changes that would impact life on Earth.

Myth 4.  Planet Collision- Some say that a mysterious planet called Nibiru will collide with Earth. Well, if there was a planet or any other object that will be clashing with Earth anytime soon, the astronomers would have seen and studied it long before it enters the solar system. After all, we now have devices that are able to view faraway distances way beyond the solar system.

Myth 5. Solar Storms- They say the Sun will produce lethal eruptions of solar flares that will heat up the Earth. However, astronomers don’t see any indication that this will happen in 2012. And even if flares can indeed create damage on Earth, there is no indication that the Sun will unleash fire storms that are strong enough to fry the whole planet.