by DianeD

Created on: January 28, 2009

December 21, 2012 is a date that will be a major topic of discussion more and more in the next few years. The internet has hundreds of web sites dedicated to the gloom and doom that is predicted to happen on that particular day due to an impending astronomical event called a galactic alignment. This will be a repeat of the Y2K hysteria, but unfortunately, will more than likely proceed to a whole new level of depression, stress and fear for the world's population.

Becoming educated about any troublesome issue is the first step in calming one's fears. Investigating the facts posted on approved scientific web sites by reliable and well-respected astrobiologists is the only way to insure the information is accurate. Just because a web site author has a few letters following their name, that doesn't necessarily mean that they know what they are writing about. There is always a lot of money to be made in the doomsday genre.

What exactly is a galactic alignment? Our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy. It orbits the center of the galaxy along with other stars, planets and heavenly bodies. It takes our solar system approximately 226,000 years to complete an orbit. The sun of our solar system aligns with the galactic equator approximately once a year. The reason the 2012 alignment differs from the usual alignment is that it will be the winter solstice sun that will align with the galactic equator. This is not the first time this event has occurred; the process takes place every 26,000 years. It is caused by the earth wobbling on its axis, called the precession of the equinoxes (occurring every seventy years or so), shifting its position in relation to the other heavenly bodies. This is not a one-second event; the complete alignment takes thirty-six years to complete; this process began in 1980 and it will complete in 2016.

The linking of this event and prophesies from ancient cultures has absolutely no scientific basis whatsoever. The members of the Mayan culture that lived in Central America from 300 AD to 1200 AD were undoubtedly expert astronomers and mathematicians. They used the movement of the heavenly bodies to create their calendar which abruptly ends on December 21, 2012. Many theorists have used this fact to determine that it must mean the world is going to end on that day. A lot has been read into the ending of the calendar that is not verified by experts of the ancient culture. Most believe that the Mayan people were simply signifying the beginning

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