Planet Alignment in 2012

Any eclipse such as the impending one (or ones) in 2012 is/are no different in length than any other time there have been eclipses.

The '2012 phenomenon' is a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in on people's fears and superstition. As long as man has been on the earth, there have been other such alignments with no cataclysmic events. We've survived such similar planetary alignments before and will survive again.

"Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.

Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012. "

"Q: Could a phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth?
A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence. "

"Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of pending doomsday?
A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012. "

Furthermore, there are some grossly distorted misinterpretations of the astronoical evwents forecast for 2012:

What some have been alarmed about and what has been alleged is the following:

"2012 will be an unusual year because there will be three 'events'. A total eclipse of the Sun. An 'eclipse' with the Sun by Venus. An eclipse at the center of the galaxy by the Sun.

The first event (eclispes of sun as seen by earth) is not at all unusual - most years have total eclipses.

The second is not an eclipse at all but a transit.

The third isn't an eclipse, either, but that doesn't matter because it's not physically possible for the Sun to line up with the center of the galaxy, as seen from the Earth.

In summary - baloney.

Planets don't block significant light from the sun. Even the moon only casts a narrow shadow on the Earth.

The only planets which lie between the earth and the sun are Venus and Mecury. As Ragman has pointed out, they don't eclipse the sun, they just transit the disc of the sun (as it appears from earth). It really is incredible so see someone who doesn't understand a basic fact such as this.

Details, details, details.
Hysteria and romantic ideas of end-of-the-world scenarios are far more fun. Look at the attention I get if I talk/write about the never-ending-story of the end of man's existence on this planet.

The good thing about the earth is that it'll be here for millennia to come. Man, however, may have limited amount of time. It depends on his ability to adapt to using new replentishable non-polluting forms of energy.

Or not!

I see ads for the so-called History Channel which advertise the prophecies of Nostradamus predicting the end of the world in 2012 . . . them boys must be really hard up for material . . .

Conspiracy theories like the-end-of-the world-is-coming-soon is an industry...just like many others ... such as myriad Assassination conspiracies and flying saucer/UFOS. A feller has to make a buck.

One of the best is the whole Roswell, New Mexico dog and pony show . . . my hat is off to the joker who made a cash cow out of that . . .

And he stole his stuff from the Aztecs.

mayans

Pete Seeger once said that his father had said, "in his musicological way, that plagiarism is basic to all culture."

I watched part of one of those "History" Channel shows (about five minutes once), and a big point they were alleging was that it wasn't just Nostradamus, but the Mayans, too . . . but what do the Venutians have to say?

Them too.

They're gonna be so embarrassed come 2013.

a pundit noted the other day that it did indeed start off as The History Channel, then it became The Hitler Channel for a number of years and now it's become The Hysteria Channel

one wonders where it can go next

From what I understand, the Mayans think this is all pretty silly.

The Hysterectomy Channel?

Mayans are still around? Ahhh..that's right...that's what Cinqo de Mayo..is all about?

That's a quantity of mayonaise. Not sure where you are going with this.