2012 is a US$200-million production about the end of the world supposedly based on myths backed by the Mayan calendar.
Credit: Sony Pictures
WASHINGTON DC: The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012, NASA insists in a rare campaign to dispel widespread rumours fuelled by the Internet and a new blockbuster movie.
The latest big screen offering from Sony Pictures, 2012, opens in Australia today. It is a US$200-million production about the end of the world supposedly based on myths backed by the Mayan calendar.
The doomsday scenario revolves around claims that the end of time will come as an obscure Planet X – or Nibiru – heads toward or collides with Earth.
Doomsday scenario
The mysterious planet was supposedly discovered by the Sumerians, according to claims by pseudo-scientists, paranormal activity enthusiasts and Internet theorists. Some websites accuse NASA of concealing the truth on the wayward planet's existence, but the U.S. space agency denounced such stories as an "Internet hoax."
"There is no factual basis for these claims," NASA said in a question-and-answer posting on its website. If such a collision were real "astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye," it added. "Obviously, it does not exist."
"Credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012," it insisted. After all, "our planet has been getting along just fine for more than four billion years."
Dwarf planet
There is a similar celestial body, Eris, floating in space. But the dwarf planet, similar to Pluto, will remain safely lodged in the outer Solar System and it can come no closer than 6.4 billion kilometres to Earth, according to NASA.
Scores of Internet postings and books delve into the supposed disaster, including Apocalypse 2012 and How to Survive 2012. Initial theories set the disaster for May 2003, but when nothing happened the date was moved forward to the winter solstice in 2012 to coincide with the end of a cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar.
NASA insisted the Mayan calendar in fact does not end on December 21, 2012, as another period begins immediately afterward. And it said there are no planetary alignments on the horizon for the next few decades. And even if the planets were to line up as some have forecast, the effect on our planet would be "negligible," it said.
Nasa what do they know or ever tell
There is nothing NASA has to say about this subject that matters one iota! Probably has more to do with a badly needed radical change in conciousness rather than disaster scenarios anyway. But there is some science behind some Earth changes as well and it has nothing to do with NASA. So what can they debunk?
They are debunking the
They are debunking the theory that a planet is going to crash into Earth, by the sounds of the article...
Doomsday movies and hype
I agree that there have been some major changes on the Earth, but the movie certainly did not pick a scenario that is likely to happen,from what is known by real Geophysics, or astrophysics. The Sun could get unstable just before it inflates......5 billion years from now. All known planets in our area of space are very far away from us, and heating and cooling occurs on the Earth periodicaly, whether or not man is here to experience it. So on December 21st, just get up as usual, let out a couple of farts and enjoy your morning coffee...Decemeber 22 will arrive and you will still have tax bills and flatulence...Peace.
Obviously
Seems like it, yes.
Why shold we belive NASA?
NASA getes it's pay check from the government that needs us to stay calm and pay our taxes, so they can spend monye we don't have and build underground bunkers for the presadant and the rest of the coruped polititions. I don't think the world will come to an end, but the S*^* will hit the fan.
believe nasa
we shold believe nasa cause its going on truthness.
ClaudelGFX
the one and only way to know the truth is by hacking IT
Correlation is irrelevant
The correlation of a planet hitting the earth as stated in the film 2012 is false. Clearly, the writer of this article hasn't seen the film. For 2012 is actually about a large solar flare that bombards earth with neutrinos, which create a reaction in the centre of the earth heating up the temperature of the core causing tectonic plate movement. BTW, neutrinos would not cause such a reaction in any case but it's Hollywood after all.
This is sensationalist writing and just designed to cash in on the tailcoat of the film's hype.
Read between the lines... the Mayan calendar issue, is a separate on and as far as the full alignment or complete occultation goes, there doesn't seem to be any coming up soon.
What I found when viewing the end of the world is that it was soapy!
The movie was great for two
The movie was great for two things; entertainment and one simple and good message; we are all children of the earth; we shouldn't be divided as we are.
I don't think the intent of the director was to create panic; this film didn't contribute to the doomsday-mongers at all.
Ultimately, there is no "end of the world"- humans will evolve along with all of the other creatures. Even if we disappeared from this world, life will continue elsewhere. It is always a cycle.
Nature will choose what is best, as always.
If anything does happen to us, it will be our own fault; widespread pollution, war and epic destruction will kill this planet well before anything else will.
2012
The movie was great for two things; entertainment and one simple and good message; we are all children of the earth; we shouldn't be divided as we are.
I don't think the intent of the director was to create panic; this film didn't contribute to the doomsday-mongers at all.
Ultimately, there is no "end of the world"- humans will evolve along with all of the other creatures. Even if we disappeared from this world, life will continue elsewhere. It is always a cycle.
Nature will choose what is best, as always.
Humans have no power over what will happen in the future.