Is the World Really Ending in 2012 as Some Predictors Claim?

  • Thread starter Dingo69
  • Start date
  • Tags
    Plane
In summary, there is no evidence to support the claim that the world will end on December 21, 2012, despite the end of the Mayan calendar on that date. The idea that the sun will pass through the galactic center is based on misunderstandings and cannot be accurately predicted. The Earth is currently in a pole flip event, but this is a natural occurrence and poses little threat to the planet. Any connections between field reversals and species extinctions are not well-supported. Overall, the claims of doomsday scenarios in 2012 are unfounded and driven by profit.
Astronomy news on Phys.org
  • #37
DaveC426913 said:
Or, more generally,

... I can't fathom how this thread has remained unlocked for as long as it has.

Same here...
 
  • #38
vincentm said:
Same here...
Count me as yet another PFer here who is completely confused regarding the longevity of this thread.
 
  • #39
LaViolette's work has been confirmed in many disturbing ways since the early 1980s. Using the term "crackpottery" is an insult.

Some of the facts we do know with certainty aren't comforting.

Solar cycles have been getting larger and more intense and the solar peak appears to coincide with 2012. Could it be possible the Sun's magenetic field is increasingly being influenced as our solar system gets ever closer to the galactic plane? It promises to be the largest solar event ever recorded by humankind, barring, perhaps, the event 12,900 years ago that culled the human population and caused the extinction of the mammoths?

bfly.gif


 
  • #40
JustFacts said:
LaViolette's work has been confirmed in many disturbing ways since the early 1980s. Using the term "crackpottery" is an insult.

To whom, exactly? Other crackpots?

JustFacts said:
Solar cycles have been getting larger and more intense and the solar peak appears to coincide with 2012.

I'm sorry, but this isn't true. Whomever told you that made it up.

Solar Cycle 23 has been abnormally long, and it's not yet clear when Cycle 24 started. Based on what we know now, the best guess is around November 2008. That means the maximum would be somewhere around May 2014.

Getting something within +/- 2 years on an 11 year cycle is not my idea of a very accurate prediction. It's up there with "if you attack the Persians, a mighty empire will fall".

JustFacts said:
Could it be possible the Sun's magenetic field is increasingly being influenced as our solar system gets ever closer to the galactic plane?

Doesn't that presuppose that the sun is getting closer to the galactic plane? A statement for which there is no evidence.

JustFacts said:
It promises to be the largest solar event ever recorded by humankind, barring, perhaps, the event 12,900 years ago that culled the human population and caused the extinction of the mammoths?

I don't think "it" is doing the promising. Someone, not something is doing the promising. I hope that someone isn't the same someone who is making up sunspot data.
 
  • #41
it seems like 1960s had more sunspot activity...is that what spawned the hippies?
 

Similar threads

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
Replies
4
Views
6K
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
Replies
8
Views
13K
Replies
10
Views
10K
  • General Discussion
Replies
29
Views
9K
Replies
1
Views
965
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
Replies
6
Views
14K
Replies
14
Views
5K
  • Math Proof Training and Practice
2
Replies
67
Views
10K
  • MATLAB, Maple, Mathematica, LaTeX
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • MATLAB, Maple, Mathematica, LaTeX
Replies
5
Views
3K
Back
Top