NASA takes to Google+ to discourage rumors of 2012 apocalypse
http://thespacereporter.com/2012/12/nasa-takes-to-google-to-discourage-rumors-of-2012-apocalypse/
| By Bruce Powell, The Space Reporter Saturday, December 01, 2012 |
“Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, December 21, 2012 won’t be the end of the world as we know it. However, it will be another winter solstice,” NASA associates behind a new website called Beyond 2012 wrote Wednesday in a Google+ post.
The Google+ posting is the latest attempt by the U.S. space agency to dispel rumors over the end of the world. NASA officials have repeatedly sought to disprove rumors, including those including Nibiru, a mythical planet on the outer fringes of the solar system that conspiracy theorist say will collide with Earth.
“Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax,” the space agency wrote in an earlier post. “There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.”
Among the theories put forth include massive solar storms engulfing the Earth, widespread blackouts, planetary alignments that tear Earth apart, and polar realignments. As for NASA’s take, the space agency says people do not have anything to worry about – at least for now.
“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,” said the agency.
While many of the theories seem ludicrous, NASA noted that they have received numerous reports of people committing violent acts.
NASA scientist David Morrison, senior scientist at the NASA Astrobiology Institute, has led the initiative to debunk various theories. The NASA scientist says the agency has been inundated with questions regarding both Doomsday 2012 and the Nibiru cataclysm. Some of these questions, he says, are increasingly alarming, and include threats of murder and suicide.
“I think it was about 4 years ago, early in 2008, I started getting 5 questions a day about 2012, and now it has increased,” Mr. Morrison told ABCNews.com. “The most common question is, ‘Will the world end on December 21, 2012?’ I find that strange because the idea of the world ending is absurd. Do they really think, ‘The world is ending, but if I build a bomb shelter in my back yard, I’ll survive’?”
“I get 1-2 a month from a person who self-identifies as 11-12 years old, who is contemplating suicide,” he added. “It happens often enough to disturb me … to hear that children are considering ending their lives.”
The panel will continue to answer questions throughout the month. Among the individuals involved with answering questions are:
- David Morrison, astrobiologist from NASA’s Ames Research Center
- Don Yeomans, asteroid scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Mitzi Adams, solar/archaeoastronomer from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
- Lika Guhathakurta, heliophysicist from NASA Headquarters
- Paul Hertz, astrophysicist from NASA Headquarters
- Andrew Fraknoi, science educator from Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, Calif.
SOURCE: http://thespacereporter.com/2012/12/nasa-takes-to-google-to-discourage-rumors-of-2012-apocalypse/
COMMENT: Clearly the December 2012 Apocalypse didn't happen. Future investment in NASA and a space program (e.g. to land humans on Mars and then return them to Earth) would do a lot to stimulate the economy, investment, and postive thoughts about the future of mankind.
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