why is it such a big deal that on december 21st, 2012 all the planets will line up?

Question

i mean, they say the world will end just because the planets will line up and it is the end of the cycle, because after the end of the cycle it just starts again, am i wrong? What! is the world gonna blow up just because it and everything else is aligned. O.O seriously, can someone explain the significance of this to me because I don't ******* get it..

Answer 1

When you read what "they" say, you have to ask who "they" are. If it's some anonymous writer on a website full of flashing stars and bright colours, then you can safely ignore it because it's either an exaggeration or a blatant lie, as in this case. The planets will not line up on 21st December 2012. Here's what their positions will actually be: http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Solar?date=1&utc=2012%2F12%2F21+11%3A12%3A00&jd=2476948.34564&img=-k0&sys=-Sf&eyes=0&imgsize=320&orb=-b0&lat=47%B0&ns=North&lon=7%B0&ew=East&hlat=90%B0&hns=North&hlon=0%B0&elements=

If all the planets were to align perfectly with each one as close as possible to the Earth, their gravity would raise the ocean tides by just one twenty-fifth of one millimeter.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast30mar_1m.htm

So the planets won't line up and even if they did, it would mean absolutely zilch.

Answer 2

The Earth isn't passing through the centre of the milky way. It never has and probably never will. If it DID we would definitely be in trouble, there is a supermassive black hole there, although we would likely have been dead a million years before now if we were this close. Secondly, it is impossible to tell when we are aligned with the centre of the galaxy. It could have happened last week, or in April 2013. It is pretty much impossible to tell. We don't know where the edge of the milky way is, so we can't know where the centre is either. It is simple idiocy. Nothing is going to happen. People LIKE to believe the world is going to end - it happens every 10 years or so. Surely you remember all those people last year who were convinced - absolutely convinced - the rapture was going to happen? When it didn't they were nothing more than a little disappointed, they're still sure it's going to happen soon. It won't be long until they've got another "definite" date, and when that passes they'll be just as eager for the next one. But look at it this way, if we ARE going to be blasted with immensely powerful cosmic waves, or every volcano on Earth will erupt or whatever sky-is-falling nonsense these loons are predicting there's nothing a few cans of corned beef and an assault rifle is going to do to stop it. We'll all be dead. So there's not a lot of point in worrying.

Answer 3

The prediction was based on something else unrelated to planetary alignment. Like many doomsday predictions, it becomes a big rumor mill, and rumors usually build up out of proportion to the original content. Along the way, someone mixed supposed planetary alignment into it. The bottom line is that the alignment is not that close, and there have been closer alignments of these planets in question over history, and the end of the world didn't happen. If it was going to happen, seems it would have happened when those planets did line up more closely in arrangement in the past.

Answer 4

There will not even be a rough line-up of planets on 21 December 2012, look at solar system live and check if you want to know where they will actually be.



Planetary line-ups are a standard lie for end of the worlders. It was trotted out in 1998 or so for the big end of the world that was supposed to happen in 1999 or 2000. There is a rough line up of most of the planets visible to the naked eye every few dozen years, nothing happens There will be one in about September 2040 for instance.

Answer 5

The planets will not be aligned on December 21, 2012, or at any other time for that matter. The only "planetary alignments" that actually occur are an appearance of alignment in our view of the sky. That is not the same as actually being aligned in space. Even if they could and did align, the combined gravitational effect would be far less than that of our Moon. It would have no effect on us.

Answer 6

You're correct in thinking that such an alignment would not have any effect on our planet.



However, it's worth pointing out that the planets will NOT line up in this fashion on that date. It is impossible for all the planets to line up in a straight line; there is no interesting alignment of any number of planets on that date.

Answer 7

It's a big deal because a lot of uninformed people BELIEVE IT is true.



First,

No planetary alignment of any significance will occur in 2012. Any free planetarium software will show you this is true-- like Stellarium -- http://www.stellarium.org



Second,

The planets never actually align in a straight line. Their tilted orbits prevent this kind of alignment.

Answer 8

like other contributors have said the planets are probably not going to line up and i don't believe that anything bad is going to happen on that date. what got people to start believing this is that the myans created a long term calender and their calender stopped in the year 2012. the were a very brilliant civilization so many people have believed that they are right. but if i were you i would not worry about a thing because there is no scientific evidence on this.

Answer 9

Wont people drop this subject of "2012",the Mayans were invaded by the Spanish so they could not finish writing the calendar.It has nothing to do with astronomy.It is the media over inflating a topic,since fear is the easiest way to control someone.

Answer 10

The planets are not all going to line up (that never happens) and even if they did, it wouldn't matter at all - the Earth would feel no affects from it. People are just making up stuff and then making up consequences. There's no science there at all.

Answer 11

It _isn't_ a big deal because the planets _won't_ lineup on that date. The only astronomical event predicted for that date is the solstice, which happens every year.

Answer 12

There aren't going to be any unusual planetary alignments on that date.

Answer 13

It isn't a big deal, some people are just not smart, so they believe anything.

Answer 14

who told you this? the planet's won't line up, they never have and probably never will.