NASA, the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration is calling all this, “Scary rumors; fear mongering!” In Russia, Vladimir Puchkov issued a statement saying, ‘the world will NOT END this month. In South and Central America, there prevails a mixed reaction: the Mayor of one mountain town in Brazil has urged residents to stock up on supplies in preparation for “the worst.” In Yucatan, Mexico, home to a large Mayan population, they are making December 21 plans for a festival in connection with the end-event.
If it ends on December 21, we can all remember that it was great. Myself, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!
Photos: Audiotool, Movieweb
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dr Dreadful
If Betelgeuse goes supernova it will certainly be spectacular, but we are in no danger from any resulting gamma ray burst.
GRBs emanate from the poles of stars. Betelgeuse's axis, however, is not pointed in our direction.
2 - John Lake
"Most observed GRBs are believed to consist of a narrow beam of intense radiation released during a supernova as a rapidly rotating, high-mass star collapses to form a neutron star, quark star, or black hole.."
I hope you're right Doc. That's a load off!
3 - peter petterson
End of times, not the end of the world. Good post John.
4 - John Lake
You have a point, Peter. The End of the World is slightly less religious a concept than the End of Times. For many people, the two may go hand in hand. "Both the Hopis and Mayans recognize that we are approaching the end of a World Age... In both cases, however, the Hopi and Mayan elders do not prophesy that everything will come to an end. Rather, this is a time of transition from one World Age into another.”
I found in my searching a relevant passage from the Qur’an. In the interest of philosophical diversity, I quote it here: “The end times refer to a period very close to the Day of Judgment, when the morality of the Qur'an will come to prevail and people all over the world will come to live by it. The immorality, oppression, cruelty, injustice and degeneration of previous ages will disappear in that holy time to be replaced by abundance, wealth, beauty, peace and stability. There will be tremendous technological advances, which all people will use for good purposes and well-being.”
As to Christians and Jews (Abrahamic faiths), we find themes of transformation and redemption. The second coming of Christ is mentioned. This second coming may have to face the emergence of the Antichrist.
5 - Susan
its not ture i live in austraila it will not happen here
we are good people its only la china and russia going under
water
6 - susan
the world might end but not austraila because
nothing happens here la and china going down
and new york
7 - Dr Dreadful
It's rather comical that so many gullible people give credence to this supposed (and nonexistent) prophecy of the Mayans, a people who for all their chronometric accomplishments were unable to predict the downfall of their own civilization or their conquest by the Spanish.
8 - Dr. Joseph S. Maresca
I think that the correct interpretation is that the world will be entering into a new period. The previous
5000 year period was a time of great change, as well as great opportunity. I liked John's analogy to the
Pacquiao loss. Dr. Dreadful had a good observation too.
Remember that Jesus Christ predicted His return in 2000 years. That window would be circa
1994 and 2033 because the birth of Christ was estimated between 6 BC and AD. Also note
how closely the dissolution of the old Soviet Union came to the projected return of Jesus Christ.
9 - Igor
Much more interesting is the census of stars by Kepler in OUR galaxy, the milky way, which reveals that about 1 out of 2 stars in the Milky Way has a planet! Most are Neptune size, thus too big to support life, so of diminished interest to us Life Chauvinists who are eagerly looking for creatures like ourselves!
But about 1 in 6 is earth size! Of course it would take thousands of years to travel there, but in the meantime we can search the spectrum for legible emanations and maybe even a broadcast!
Tune in to Michio Kakus excellent science broadcast and/or get his podcast: "Exploration" on your iPod.
10 - John Lake
Much going on in the sky. As Igor says there probably are billions of planets in our galaxy alone that could support life. Meanwhile we find renewed interest in Apophis, the Uncreator, which passed by today, January 8. Concern continues about the 2029, and 2036 passing which may in fact be an impact event.
11 - Igor
There was an excellent documentary tonight on PBS about the ALMA telescope array in the Atacama desert of Chile.
12 - Dr Dreadful
Apophis will not hit Earth in 2029 and most likely not in 2036 either. There is a small window of space about a kilometre on each side which, if the asteroid passes through it in '29, will guarantee that it intercepts Earth on its next pass in '36. However, the probability of it passing through this gravitational keyhole is only about one in a quarter of a million.
(Phew?)
13 - Dr Dreadful
Igor, do you follow Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog on Slate? If not, you should. The man's sense of wonder and enthusiasm for the universe is infectious.
14 - Igor
A problem with photometric planet hunters like Kepler is that they depend on fluctuating light from the star-planet pair to detect the planet, instead of direct observation. So, of course they'd be expected to find big planets more easily. Little tiny itty-bitty planets like earth are less likely to be found. But it is re-assuring to find big planets like Jupiter and Saturn because they are necessary in a solar system to protect their little brother planets from big bad bully asteroids from space. Without those big brothers there would be no life on earth since asteroid bombardment would have killed it all.
But earth-like planets live in the shadow of the Big Boys so they are difficult to see.
15 - Igor
I didn't know about the Slate column, I'll give it a look.
I like to follow certain podcasts (I make up playlists of science subjects, interspersed with BirdNotes instead of commercials, which make up radio narrowcasts for my entertainment). Michio Kaku is good, and I get the Ohio State University Astronomy 141 and Astro 162 podcasts as well as BBC Science, some Scientific American, Science Friday, Quest, etc., and the occasional AAAS Science Magazine podcast. There are others, too.
I like Kaku because he really knows his stuff and he's an excellent interviewer, but some of his interviewees mumble too much, and then go into boom mode. Drives me nuts. Maybe I need an AGC for my iPod, or maybe I have to write one.
16 - Dr Dreadful
A problem with photometric planet hunters like Kepler is that they depend on fluctuating light from the star-planet pair to detect the planet, instead of direct observation.
Right. And this, of course, won't work if the orbital plane of the observed star's planets as seen by Kepler doesn't happen to intersect with the star's disc.
Fortunately there are other ways of detecting exoplanets. Kepler just happens to have the best view right now.
17 - Igor
Yes, Kepler requires candidate solar systems coplanar with ours, but since we've had such remarkable luck finding them that suggests that there are many more available to other searches.
This is a really good result! It means that we have rich opportunities.
We should be able to find compatible exoplanets with ease!
The best thing is that this legitimizes the expenses of more telescopes, and the eventual design of an unmanned interstellar probe!
18 - Igor
@13-DD: thanks for the ref to Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog on Slate. Very interesting, and engrossing. Excellent photos, which I enjoy immensely.
19 - John Lake
Pragmatically speaking, in view of our difficulties with the economy, and our extreme national debt, it seems the entire space program (with the exception of preparing defense from asteroids and comets) could be put on hold for, say, 50 or even 100 years without any damage.
20 - Dr Dreadful
Which is fine, John, if you feel we could all do without banking, international commerce, navigation, weather forecasting, search and rescue, national defence, geosciences, agricultural monitoring, mineral deposit detection, climate research and most forms of communication for a few decades until the economy recovers. Which it never will if we take your prescription.
21 - Dr Dreadful
News update: Apophis will not be hitting us in 2036 either.
The asteroid made a close pass to Earth a few days ago, which gave astronomers the opportunity to get a better fix on its orbit. Turns out it will miss by at least 14 million miles.
So the 2029 encounter, during which this celestial hot potato will approach us closer than some communications satellites, is going to be our best chance to say hi.
22 - Jet Gardner
My 2006 BC article has pretier pictures...
My Astronomy blog has a closeup color photo of it too
23 - Jet Gardner
By the way, glad you're still here John....
24 - Dr Dreadful
Jet, the asteroid on your blog isn't Apophis, which has never been seen close-up - in fact until a few days ago we weren't even sure how big it was. What you have there is the asteroid Gaspra, as seen by the Galileo probe as it flew by in 1991.
25 - Jet Gardner
Hmmmm I wonder why it was used on a couple of sites 6 years ago??? Well... I'm a little behind the times-thanks for the correction.