The number of people who are concerned about the future events pertaining to December 2012 is growing everyday. As we get closer to this date the general public’s curiosity, uncertainty and anxiety are increasing.  Many people are wondering what could possibly happen to the earth and to them on December 21, 2012. Questions of all forms are surfacing in the media and especially over the Internet every single day. People are asking “what will happen to us on 12/21/2012?”…  On the other hand quite a few others have doubts about the accuracy of these claims and smirk-off questions like “Is the end of the world prophecy true?” or “Is the word completely coming to an end in 2012?”

Photo by Kevin

To simplify the proclaimed logic behind the end of the world claims, lets mention the theories behind them:

1. The Galactic Alignment
2. Approaching Planet X

The Galactic alignment and the approaching “Planet X” (or Nibiru) are the two main theories that are being blamed for the much talked about cataclysmic effects of end of the world or dooms day, as we know it. These two doomsday theories are widely based on the prediction of the Mayan calendar, which has been  “predicted” to roll over to a new year on December 21, 2012. The start of a new Mayan year in 2012 is thought to be the start of the cataclysmic disasters. Much like how our  solar calendar causes many different seasonal affects, the galactic calendar will affect the earth in a more intense fashion. But did the Mayan’s get it right?

What is the Mayan calendar?

December 21 for the ancient Mayans marked a huge celebration period that recognized the end of a whole calendar cycle. A calendar that was not only based on the solar system (movement of the earth around the sun) or the lunar system (movement of the moon around the earth) but astonishingly it was based on a whole galactic system movement, comprising of movement of the moon around the earth, the earth around the sun, as well as our sun around it’s galaxy.

What is a galactic system and how does it work?

Just as the earth moves around the sun – identical to many other solar systems – our sun itself is in constant circulation around the black hole of its (our) galaxy. Most people are quite surprised to find out that the sun is moving at a speed of nearly 1,000,000 km every hour and is constantly accelerating. So with its massive gravitational force the sun is also pulling the earth and rest of our neighbouring planets along with it.

The Mayans with their incredible knowledge of astronomy were able to predict the movements of the moon around the earth, the movements of the earth around the sun and amazingly the movement of the sun (hence our solar system) around the Milky Way galaxy. And as far as we can prove, they did this flawlessly. This, for example, is evident in the prediction of their years. The Mayan years were so accurate that it eliminated the need for Leap years, something today’s calendars cannot avoid. These ancient people who lived (as far as archaeologists can trace back) nearly 5000 to 7000 years ago kept their solar calendar years to exactly 365.25 days.

The Mayan calendar predicts that the sun will finish its one complete rotation around the Milky Way galaxy, hence rolling over to a new galactic year. For the humankind on the earth, each galactic year takes approximately 26,000 solar years. At this time the sun will cross exactly through the galaxy’s equinox, which could also be considered as the Galaxy’s “equator”. If this prediction is true then it means that during such special galactic alignment the sun and the earth will be exposed to an increase in the gravitational forces that are triggered from the Milky Way galaxy’s centre, commonly know as the “Black Hole”.

Could the Mayan calendar predictions be right?

In the main, ancient people people of Maya produced a calendar that predicts the galactic alignment and disruption in the gravitational of force of the earth to be exactly on 12/21/12 2012 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time. As explained above, the Mayan calendar’s solar tracking of the eathly days were extremely accurate, which is why many people believe that their early galactic prediction will also prove to be exact. Although there is no doubt that the solar system will eventually cross through the Milky Way’s equinox, there are many scientists engaged in vigorous debates on whether or not the Mayans were correct about their prediction and wheather or not this will prove to cause a polar shift on December 2012; something that remains to be witnessed for accuracy.

August Meteor Shower

There’s a buzz going around the media and the Internet about the August Meteor Shower phenomenon. August has been called the month of worship, so surely it’s deeply rooted in the history of our ancestors as well. These showers must have been around in August for a long time. The Meteor Shower is a result of tiny bits and pieces of the comet Swift-Tuttle.

Apparently this comet, moves around the sun in an orbit as the Earth and many other of our solar system planets do. Swift Tuttle gets the closest to the earth each year in August, and the year 2009 has not been any different than the previous recorded ones. As the dust and debris left behind fall from Swift Tuttle and move towards the Earth, they burn up when colliding with our atmosphere. This means that these shooting stars are very close to us even though we perceive them far. And this is called the Perseid meteor shower, which is named after the constellation of Perseus.
Coming from an afternoon shift of work last night, while driving I saw the moon having more of a pale yellow color than its normal pearl white. It was seating low on the east horizon and the sky looked pretty clear without any clouds, which has been very odd after weeks of rain in Toronto in July and August. I stepped out of my car at approximately 11:30 pm, which happened to be August 12, 2009. I looked up at the sky, as I do almost every time I get a chance to on a quiet night and a clear sky to reflect and let myself get mesmerized by the beauty and the vastness of the universe. The second I lifted my head up, I saw a meteor or a shooting star go by, roughly towards northwest direction. I thought I had only imagined it because moved so quickly and I only saw it from the corner of my eyes. But once I kept looking for no longer than 30 seconds I saw 3 or more go by with lightening speed. It was a very incredible scene. Not that I had never seen meteors before, but it was the length, the speed and the frequency of these meteors or so-called “shooting stats” that was truly amazing.

Today is August 13, 2009 and only an hour ago I caught many headlines on Google about the intensity of Perseid Meteor Shower which have started from July 17th and will be vigorous until August 24th. Not so surprisingly the astronomers say that the Meteor Shower intensity is at the highest on August 12, August 13, 2009 and at around 11:00 pm.

What direction is the best to view shooting stats?

Astronomers say towards the Northeast. So had I turned my head a tiny bit to the right I could have been even more memorized. If the sky and clouds permit tonight I hope to catch more of these Meteor showers that the Swift Tuttle so generously leaves behind for us.