Are you living your life as if it's all coming to an end in 2012?? Outside of the kooky UFO and "please bring armaggedon, now, Jesus" websites out there...here's what an astronomer has to say about it: http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/aboutus.php#5 As I mentioned above the Mayan calendar was designed to be cyclical, so the fact that the long count comes to an end in Dec 2012, while having some significance for the Maya as the end of a great cycle (much like we celebrated the millennium (incorrectly as it happens) on Dec 31st 1999), does not mean that the "world will come to an end". It's actually true that there are Mayan names for periods of time longer than 13 bactuns, so that their calendar doesn't even end then, and even if it did there is no evidence to suggest that they (or anyone for that matter) have any special knowledge about the end of the world. There are however a lot of theories knocking around the Internet which use the end of this calendar cycle to predict the end of the world. They often also mention the fact that Dec 21st is the winter solstice, and that the Sun on the solstice that year is "aligned" with the plane of the galaxy. On the winter solstice, the Sun always has a Declination of -23.5 degrees, and a Right Ascension of 18 hours, but exactly where this is on the sky relative to more distant stars changes very slowly due to the "precession of the equinoxes". We have a posted answer explaining this effect but how it's important in this answer (and how it was first noticed) is by the fact that it moves the position of the equinoxes, and solstices with a period of 26,000 years in a complete circle around the sky westward along the ecliptic. So the position of the winter solstice moves 360 degrees in 26,000 years. That means that it moves 360/26000 = 0.01 degrees a year. Defining an exact boundary for the plane of the Milky Way is tough, but it's at least 10-20 degrees wide across much of the sky, meaning that the solstice can be described as being "in the plane of the Milky Way" for 700-1400 years! To put it another way, the winter solstice that just past (2005) was only 0.1 degrees away from where it will be in 2012, a distance smaller than the size of the Sun itself (which is about 0.5 degrees in diameter). In any case the Sun crosses the plane of the Galaxy twice every year as we orbit around it, with no ill effect on Earth. To conclude: The Mayan calendar does not predict the end of the world on Dec 12th 2012. The exact date of the end of the current Mayan Long Count is still a matter of debate amongst Mayan scholars, although it is likely to be around Dec 21 2012. The Mayan calendar is cyclical, and there are names for cycles longer than 13 bactuns of the Long Count which are coming to an end in 2012. Even if the Mayans did believe that the world would come to an end at the end of the Long Count (which I don't believe is true), there is no reason to assume that they have any special knowledge which would allow them to make this prediction correctly. You are free to believe the Sun won't come up tomorrow, but it will anyway.... The fact that the winter solstice on 2012 is "aligned" with the plane of the Galaxy has no significance. It takes the winter solstice 700-1400 years to cross the plane of the Galaxy. The solstice last year (2005) was within 0.1 degrees (or 1/5th the size of the Sun) of where it will be on 2012. The Sun crosses the plane of the Milky Way twice every year with no ill effect. Karen Masters Karen studies the distribution and motions of galaxies in the local universe. She got her PhD from Cornell in August 2005 and is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Here is a list of some questions answered by Karen (2000- ).
So the Mayan calendar is coming to an end in 2012. My assumption is those Mayans were assuming that there would be Mayans today to create the next calendar.
That is an interesting idea, kind of an early stage of weather control. I wonder if the idea could be militarized to freeze the enemy.
Through the coldest winter in almost fourteen years I couldn't believe you kept a smile Now I can rest assured knowing that we've seen the worst And I know I love ya
Lovelock gave bold estimates to the rise in temp (8C) and how long it'd last (100 + 200,000 years), but I wouldn't want to stick around an Earth that's 8 degrees hotter. The age scale of earth is what makes this so batty to comprehend. We could be at the height of civilization, only to be wiped out by a blip in earth's climate. War could probably reduce the number to 500 million, but in any case, humanity would definitely have to reboot and adapt to such an event.
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We've had one of the warmest Novembers ever here in MN and the last time there was snow on the ground on Thanksgiving was 10 years ago.
According to this: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/thanks0511.htm there was 4 inches of snow on the ground in 2003.
Sooo, which one of us can best withstand another 8 degrees of global warming then? We could up our average temperature 8C and still have snow every year and still have a ski season too.
My guess is 2012 is just when the Mayans ran out of room on that round rock. (I know, that's the Aztec calender) But seriously, we can't even predict the weather with a super computer; I don't think folks that couldn't even come up with the wheel are going to have a lot of insight on 3000 years into the future. However, we are over due for and showing signs of an iminent reversal in the Earths polarity. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/reversals.html I watched this Nova about it and the only dire prediction was a marked increase in cancers as the Earth's magnetic field weakens before the big flip. It would allow a lot more of the radition that is now deflected away from the planet to reach the surface. And of course compasses would point South so your Tom Tom is going to lead you astray. You want to wonder about other life in the universe, consider there wouldn't even be life on Earth if it didn't have a rotating ball of molten metal at it's core. Most of the universe is positively leathel to life except where it is protected by a a magnetic force field. That may be unique or it may be common...but it is pretty wierd.
no, im not that much of a gambler. i do believe though, that we will probably destroy ourselves through nuclear war or some bio-terrorism in the not-to-distant future. w/ regards to 2012 though, i think what they took to be the end of the world is really something along the lines of natural catastrophes like earthquakes and floods. they were able to predict these things thru astronomical observation and what 2012 represents is something akin to the "perfect storm". i think these theories have been around longer than the internet has. i think i had said the 22nd, not the 12th, but whatever. only with the still-beating hearts of our enemies...the utah jazz!
the mayans were actually able to predict magnetic reversals based on sunspot cycles. they might be alot smarter than you give them credit for. as far as ancient astronomers, they were very advanced and had records going back thousands of years. they were able to calculate when eclipses would happen, for example. i think magnetic reversals ties into the mayan concepts of 2012. it is based on the movement of venus and sunspot cycles. what they belived to be the end of the world could be these types of natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, ect. that are caused by these very natural pheonomenon.
Max, I saw this article today, and this is as good a place as any to post it. Truly freakin' amazing! School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University Fragments of the Antikythera Mechanism, left, have now been examined with the latest in high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography. November 29, 2006 An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD A computer in antiquity would seem to be an anachronism, like Athena ordering takeout on her cellphone. But a century ago, pieces of a strange mechanism with bronze gears and dials were recovered from an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Greece. Historians of science concluded that this was an instrument that calculated and illustrated astronomical information, particularly phases of the Moon and planetary motions, in the second century B.C. The Antikythera Mechanism, sometimes called the world’s first computer, has now been examined with the latest in high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography. A team of British, Greek and American researchers was able to decipher many inscriptions and reconstruct the gear functions, revealing, they said, “an unexpected degree of technical sophistication for the period.” The researchers, led by Tony Freeth and Mike G. Edmunds, both of the University of Cardiff, Wales, are reporting the results of their study in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature. They said their findings showed that the inscriptions related to lunar-solar motions and the gears were a mechanical representation of the irregularities of the Moon’s orbital course across the sky, as theorized by the astronomer Hipparchos. They established the date of the mechanism at 150-100 B.C. The Roman ship carrying the artifacts sank off the island of Antikythera around 65 B.C. Some evidence suggests that the ship had sailed from Rhodes. The researchers speculated that Hipparchos, who lived on Rhodes, might have had a hand in designing the device. In another article in the journal, a scholar not involved in the research, François Charette of the University of Munich museum, in Germany, said the new interpretation of the Antikythera Mechanism “is highly seductive and convincing in all of its details.” It is not the last word, he concluded, “but it does provide a new standard, and a wealth of fresh data, for future research.” Historians of technology think the instrument is technically more complex than any known device for at least a millennium afterward. The mechanism, presumably used in preparing calendars for seasons of planting and harvesting and fixing religious festivals, had at least 30, possibly 37, hand-cut bronze gear-wheels, the researchers reported. An ingenious pin-and-slot device connecting two gear-wheels induced variations in the representation of lunar motions according to the Hipparchos model of the Moon’s elliptical orbit around Earth. The functions of the mechanism were determined by the numbers of teeth in the gears. The 53-tooth count of certain gears, the researchers said, was “powerful confirmation of our proposed model of Hipparchos’ lunar theory.” The detailed imaging revealed more than twice as many inscriptions as had been recognized from earlier examinations. Some of these appeared to relate to planetary as well as lunar motions. Perhaps, the researchers said, the mechanism also had gearings to predict the positions of known planets. Dr. Charette noted that more than 1,000 years elapsed before instruments of such complexity are known to have re-emerged. A few artifacts and some Arabic texts suggest that simpler geared calendrical devices had existed, particularly in Baghdad around A.D. 900. It seems clear, Dr. Charette said, that “much of the mind-boggling technological sophistication available in some parts of the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman world was simply not transmitted further,” adding, “The gear-wheel, in this case, had to be reinvented.” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/s...&en=d7d28d698786f28d&ei=5094&partner=homepage D&D. The Ancients were Pretty Damn Smart!
I don't know much about the subject, but for what possible reason would the Mayans need to know about, or be able to measure flips in the solar magnetic field? How do you even measure the solar magnetic field from within the Earth's field? As stated I don't know much, but I'm fairly sure the Mayans didn't have any satellites. At first I thought you were talking about the Earth's field, but given that that last occurred 780,000 years ago, I don't think Mayan civilization was around when that last happened. Regarding the initial article, most of the predictions that I've seen indicate that by the time that global warming symptoms become clear, it will esssentially be too late and we will all be screwed. In otherwords there is a 'critical mass' threshold, after which there is a runaway self supporting effect.
