2012 Conspiracy theories

[tmaromine]

Our sun'll rise in the centre of our galaxy ? So what'll happen to our current excentral sun ? Or did you mean that that phrase is just a symbol itself, not the sun literally coming out of the galaxy's centre ?

For those who think some thing will occur in 2012, nothing better not occur or it'll be another "We told you so" to the one's who take the universe with much speciality. But then, some thing paranormal could occur, and I think I'd like to see it. Just seems unlikely.

[DougF]

What's going to happen on December 21st 2012?

This site should answer some of your questions.
(me I think its going to rain)

There are however a lot of theories knocking around the Internet which use the end of this calendar cycle to predict the end of the world. They often also mention the fact that Dec 21st is the winter solstice, and that the Sun on the solstice that year is "aligned" with the plane of the galaxy. On the winter solstice, the Sun always has a Declination of -23.5 degrees, and a Right Ascension of 18 hours, but exactly where this is on the sky relative to more distant stars changes very slowly due to the "precession of the equinoxes". We have a posted answer explaining this effect but how it's important in this answer (and how it was first noticed) is by the fact that it moves the position of the equinoxes, and solstices with a period of 26,000 years in a complete circle around the sky westward along the ecliptic. So the position of the winter solstice moves 360 degrees in 26,000 years. That means that it moves 360/26000 = 0.01 degrees a year. Defining an exact boundary for the plane of the Milky Way is tough, but it's at least 10-20 degrees wide across much of the sky, meaning that the solstice can be described as being "in the plane of the Milky Way" for 700-1400 years! To put it another way, the winter solstice that just past (2005) was only 0.1 degrees away from where it will be in 2012, a distance smaller than the size of the Sun itself (which is about 0.5 degrees in diameter). In any case the Sun crosses the plane of the Galaxy twice every year as we orbit around it, with no ill effect on Earth.

Curious About Astronomy: What's going to happen on December 21st 2012?

[orbsycli]

Originally Posted by tmaromine

Our sun'll rise in the centre of our galaxy ? So what'll happen to our current excentral sun ? Or did you mean that that phrase is just a symbol itself, not the sun literally coming out of the galaxy's centre ?

For those who think some thing will occur in 2012, nothing better not occur or it'll be another "We told you so" to the one's who take the universe with much speciality. But then, some thing paranormal could occur, and I think I'd like to see it. Just seems unlikely.

Did you read what I wrote?

[tmaromine]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

Did you read what I wrote?

Most of it, I believe, yes (didn't watch video though...). You said that the sun is to rise in the centre of the galaxy. I wouldn't take that as literal ? . .unless in the sense that Earth will be aligned with the Sun which technically could be viewed as always aligned with the galaxy's centre, but Earth also being aligned paranormal specialness. Very neat indeed from an astronomical 'coincidental' view, but really meaningless, no ?

The latter half of my post was just my opinion: I really don't think anything is going to happen that can't be predicted with known-data and computer software, IE, maybe just an alignment but nothing divine or spiritual or meaningful. But if something so does, I think it interesting to view...

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by tmaromine

You said that the sun is to rise in the centre of the galaxy. I wouldn't take that as literal ? . .unless in the sense that Earth will be aligned with the Sun which technically could be viewed as always aligned with the galaxy's centre, but Earth also being aligned paranormal specialness. Very neat indeed from an astronomical 'coincidental' view, but really meaningless, no ?

I believe this is a misinterpretation, and the proper interpretation may have meaningfull consequences.

What the Sun is doing is arriving at and crossing the Galactic Plane. From what I have found in astronomy references as to exactly how far our Solar System is currently from the crossing, we have no measure to the degree of accuracy given by the Mayan calendar. The potential danger of this crossing is the added radiation if I recall?

I found references & discussed this before in another thread; will try & find it. Nonetheless, the key phrase is "galactic plane".

addendum: Low & behold I started a whole thread on it. http://hypography.com/forums/astrono...tml#post157723 Here's Eclogite's significant contribution; red highlight mine.

Originally Posted by Eclogite

However in a letter to Nature (Periodic mass extinctions and the Sun's oscillation about the galactic plane) these astronomers note the periodicity to be 26 million years.
In another letter to Nature (The Sun's motion perpendicular to the galactic plane) we are told "For all the models we consider, the most recent passage of the Sun through the galactic plane occurred in the past 3 Myr provided only that the present position of the Sun is between 0 and 20 pc above the plane."

Please note that the full cycle is double whatever of the above figures we go with.

[tmaromine]

Ah, so Sun'll arrive at the galactic plane in 2012 and be 'levelled'/'on it' instead of 'below' or 'above' the plane.... I think I'll just wait till 2012.

[LaurieAG]

Hi Buffy,

Originally Posted by Buffy

I hadn't heard this one before: can you explain what they mean by "align with the center of the milky way?" That's kind of like saying "the Earth will align with the Sun"...

Yes I thought it was a bit vague too, unless you consider aligning with the center of a spiral galaxy a bit like like looking down a gamma ray blunderbuss (and hoping that it doesn't go off while you're looking).

Here's a link that Orbsycli posted in the lounge to decode your birthday: ~-_ Planet Art Network _-~

It gives a good breakdown on how the Mayan calendar cycle actually works.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by DougF

What's going to happen on December 21st 2012?
This site should answer some of your questions.
(me I think its going to rain)

Curious About Astronomy: What's going to happen on December 21st 2012?

To clarify, this is not the same as the solar system crossing the galactic plane, which as Ecoglite shewed has a period of 26 million years.

Originally Posted by tmaromine

Ah, so Sun'll arrive at the galactic plane in 2012 and be 'levelled'/'on it' instead of 'below' or 'above' the plane.... I think I'll just wait till 2012.

That is the speculation of some of the new agey interpretations of the Mayan calendar, yes. However, the astronmers Eclogite quoted gave a margin of error for Earth's position relative to the galactic plane of 2 parsecs (which is ~ 6.5 light years) for whether we crossed or not within 3 million years ago.

More from a previous reference:>>
Periodic mass extinctions and the Sun's oscillation about the galactic plane

Originally Posted by nature.com

Raup and Sepkoski1 have recently reported evidence fora 26-Myr periodicity in the occurrence of mass extinctions based on a study of marine fossils. The data baseline of 250 Myr suggests events of variable amplitude, with some of the strongest peaks associated with boundaries between major geological periods which have been defined by previous palaeontological studies. In a more limited quantitative study, Fischer and Arthur2 earlier cited evidence for a 32-Myr period of major extinction events. Hatfield and Camp3 were among the first to suggest that mass extinctions might be correlated with periodic galactic phenomena, noting intervals of 80−90 Myr between major mass extinctions with an exceptionally strong mass extinction every 225−275 Myr. Here we point out a possible correlation between the 26-Myr extinction period and the Sun's oscillation about the galactic plane.

This stuff's enough to keep a person up at night.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Turtle

I believe this is a misinterpretation, and the proper interpretation may have meaningfull consequences..... The potential danger of this crossing is the added radiation if I recall?

addendum: Low & behold I started a whole thread on it. http://hypography.com/forums/astrono...tml#post157723

OK. From the other thread, last post. The danger mentioned in this case is not crossing the Galactic Plane, but rather that we are about to cross a bubble boundary.

Originally Posted by Turtle

Then there's that haunting nasty business of extinction, and while the Nature articles have it correlated to the galactic plane, the article I got the 33 million year cycle from correlated extictions to our position in relation to the Local Bubble.

American Scientist Online - The Galactic Environment of the Sun

Plane it may be, simple it is not.

So many speculations so little time.

[paigetheoracle]

If you believe the world will end, you're probably right. If you believe something new and wonderful will arise, you're probably right too. History is full of events, good and bad, that can lead you to predict other similar events will follow (war and peace, famine and plenty, flood and drought, pestilience and health: These bands show that things swing between two polar opposites, including progression and regression (The wheel will always come round again).