NASA: There Will Be A Year 2013, So Plan Accordingly: Eric Mack
NASA: There Will Be A Year 2013, So Plan Accordingly: Eric Mack
It's time to end all the end-of-times chatter. NASA and others are working to dispel the 2012 end-of-the-world rumors. b !ric "ack No#ember 2$% 2012 10&'0 A" (S) Some sa this photo from the *ubble telescope is e#idence of a planet that's about to collide with !arth. +,redit& NASAI'm planning to ha#e an awesome holida season this ear% if onl b #irtue of the fact that m self and leading astrobiologist .a#id "orrison are confident we'll be around to celebrate them. Normall I don't seek out the professional opinion of NASA scientists to #alidate m ,hristmas and New /ear's plans% but in the case of 2012 I'm pla ing it safe. /ou'#e probabl heard% if ou'#e spent an time on the Internet in the past decade% that lots of people belie#e some sort of doomsda is in store for us around the time of the winter solstice on .ecember 21 of this ear. 0ften it has to do with the rumored +and discredited- end of the "a an calendar or the fictional planet Nibiru -- allegedl disco#ered b the Sumerians -- crashing into !arth. NASA's "orrison has been answering 1uestions from the public for the past decade at the agenc 's 2Ask an Astrobiologist2 page% and he sa s that o#er the past few ears% 1uestions he recei#es ha#e been o#erwhelmed b 1ueries about the 2012 end-of-the-world prophecies. 2In particular I'm concerned about the oung people who write to me and sa that the are terribl afraid%2 "orrison said in response to a 1uestion during a 3oogle4 *angout NASA held esterda specificall to address 2012 apocal ptic hoa5es. 2)he can't sleep% the can't eat% some of them sa the are contemplating suicide.2 So "orrison and some of his colleagues ha#e opted to tr to get the word out that there's nothing to fear. NASA scientists who stud asteroids and helioph sics and e#en an archaeoastronomer well-#ersed in "a an histor participated in this week's hangout to dispel the m ths. .ebunking the end of the world is fairl simple% but there are counterarguments to e#er debunking that range from thought-pro#oking to sill and go on ad infinitum. I won't get into all of that here% that's what the Internet is for% after all% but here are the basics& If a planet was about to crash into ours% we would ha#e been looking at it in the sk e#er da for 1uite a while now% as "orrison pointed out on N(6 recentl . )he photos ou'll find online that seem to indicate the planet Nibiru has been 2hiding2 behind the sun are the result of lens flare. 0h% and no% NASA is not predicting a three-da global blackout in .ecember% but I ha#e been en7o ing the tele#ision show based on a similar premise. As for that "a an calendar -- actual "a an e5perts insist that the "a ans had no actual interest in predicting the end of the world% and in fact% archaeologists think the ma ha#e found a "a an calendar that goes far be ond 201'. )hen again% if the world isn't going to end ne5t month% then wh is *anukkah falling so earl in .ecember this ear8 ,oincidence or conspirac 8 Ne#er mind% I'm not going there. *app holida s to e#er one this ear% and I do mean all of the holida s% right on through to "artin 9uther :ing ;r. .a in ;anuar .