by D. Vogt

Created on: February 28, 2010   Last Updated: March 02, 2010

Almost certainly, it is not. According to one theory, based upon a tenuous analysis of obscure ancient Sumerian texts, the ancient peoples of the Near East were aware of a planet which follows a drawn-out 3600 year orbit, passing near Earth once during that time period. Moreover, according to the theory, we're due for one of those passes very soon now. Fortunately, there is no physical evidence whatsoever to support this theory.

- The Theory of Nibiru -

The idea of Nibiru originated with Nancy Lieder, who claimed during the mid-1990s she was passed information by Zeta Reticuli aliens that excitement about the Hale-Bopp comet was a deliberate misdirection to lull people into a false sense of security while a much greater threat, Nibiru, approached the inner solar system. Lieder predicted that Nibiru would arrive in 2003; this date, obviously, proved incorrect. However, information is still available from her website, ZetaTalk.

A more sophisticated theory of Nibiru has been provided by Zecharia Sitchin, a Middle Eastern-born journalist who believes that the ancient Sumerians were aware of a planet today's scientists have not yet found (or are suppressing evidence of), which they called Nibiru. Sumerian astronomers, Sitchin claims, knew that Nibiru, Nibiru's moons, and another planet, Tiamat, had been involved in a collision, which destroyed Tiamat. Part of Tiamat became the Earth; the remaining debris broke apart to create the Asteroid Belt.

Sitchin goes further. He claims that Nibiru is home to another intelligent species, which has been plundering Earth's resources for a half-million years and were known to the Sumerians as Anunnaki. The Anunnaki created the early humans from lower primate species for use as slaves, but left after an interstellar war occurred around 2000 BC (when the ancient Sumerian city of Ur was destroyed, possibly during a skirmish in this greater war). Details of his theory have been published in a variety of books between the 1970s and the present, the latest of which is "The End of Days: Armageddon and Prophecies of the Return."

- A Lack of Evidence -

One thing is clear: Those who say that Nibiru exists have been unable to point to any meaningful published debate on this subject within the scientific community, nor have they submitted any physical evidence which has stood up to careful scientific scrutiny. If Nibiru really were poised to begin its once-in-a-few-millennia traverse of the inner solar system, it ought to be easily visible

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