The real question is: "Why are you asking this, when so many other people have also asked it? Haven't you bothered to look at the answers that have already been given? Do you really think we are going to be the victims of an apocalypse? Why do you believe such nonsense?"
“The Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012! That’s when they predicted the world will end. It’s also when the planet Nibiru will crash into the Earth!”
Here are the facts:
(1) The Mayan calendar does NOT end on December 21, 2012.
(2) The Mayans did NOT predict the end of the world, on that date or any other.
(3) The planet Nibiru will NOT crash into the Earth on that date, because it doesn’t exist!
Don't you think it would be the most incredible coincidence if all these things were to happen on the same day? Doesn't that give you a clue that it's so unlikely that they will?
If anyone thinks I’m wrong, then I’m willing to bet them £10,000, which they can pay to me on December 22 when it’s obvious that these “predictions” are proven to be false.
The Mayan calendar has various time periods. We have days, weeks, months, years, etc. They had periods called b’ak’tuns and piktuns, among others. The periods are counted up, and, like the mileometer in a car, when one number reaches its maximum, it resets to zero and the next number along is increased. In their calendar, the “Long Count” reaches 13.0.0.0.0 on 21 December 2012, but that is NOT the end of their calendar - it resets the number of b’ak’tuns to zero and increases the number of piktuns - to 1.0.0.0.0.0! The calendar then goes to the next piktun on October 13, 4772.
In any case, the Mayans never predicted the end of the world on that date. My “normal” calendar runs out on 31 December, 2012. What will happen then? The end of the world? No! I’ll simply use another calendar for the next period of time - 2013.
"We are speaking out against deceit, lies and twisting of the truth, and turning us into folklore-for-profit. They are not telling the truth about time cycles," says Felipe Gomez, leader of the Maya alliance.
The impact of Nibiru was first announced back in 1995 by Nancy Leider, except she didn’t say it would hit us in December 2012 - the date she gave was May 15, 2003! Of course nothing happened, and she later announced a new date. Nothing happened then either, and then she heard about the 2012 story of the Mayan calendar and said it would happen then. It is obvious that this is all total rubbish and she is making this up as she goes along.
Leider claimed to have this knowledge by means of an implant in her brain, which allows her to receive messages from extra-terrestrials in the Zeta-Reticuli star system, which is a double star about 39 light-years from Earth. So firstly, how was this implant installed, and by whom, and secondly, any messages that she receives are coming from a star that is about 30º south of the southern-most star that can be seen from Nancy’s home in California. So if the star is never above the horizon, how do the messages reach her through solid rock?
We’re also supposed to believe that the astronomers on a planet around that double-star could detect planet Nibiru going around our star 39 light-years away, and yet although we have confirmed over 500 planets orbiting other stars, including one over 21,000 light-years away - almost a quarter of the distance across the galaxy - we haven’t seen Nibiru, which is supposed to be in our own back-yard!
To arrive on December 21, 2012 from a distance of the orbit of Pluto, it would have to be at that distance around December, 2003. That's over 6 months *after* the arrival date of May 2003 that Nancy gave us.
Of course, if it did exist, and was going to hit us hit us around 10 days from now, it would currently be around 400,000 miles away, which is less than twice the distance of the Moon. Assuming it is “only” the same size as the Moon, we would be able to see it with the naked eye. All around the world are millions of amateur astronomers, and there are also huge telescopes - yet no-one has seen this thing because it isn’t there.
Actually, something interesting will happen the day before, on December 20. At 12 minutes past 8pm it will be 20:12 on 20/12 of 2012 :) [That's using UK formatting for the date - DD/MM]
If you want to book a space presentation on real science, or to place a bet with me about these claims, write to jstone@spaceflight-uk.com
So the bottom line is - Don't worry, nothing particular will happen on December 21, apart from the Winter Solstice. Oh, and a group of us are meeting up to have a 2012 Apocalypse Survivors' Dinner :)