I recently joined a Yahoo discussion group for users of Starry Night software (TM). I have the software and have been dabbling with it, trying to learn how to use it for specific things. This morning in my email I was treated to the discussion of astronomers about the 2012 issue. In short: they say it’s nonsense, and there are a LOT of reasons to think so.
Here’s a wonderful link that very thoroughly, and painstakingly, debunks all the Mayan 2012 calendrical predictive paleobabble. It’s long, but worth the time, at least if you care about “white and nerdy” astronomy and calendrical science.
Here’s an additional paragraph from the discussion group:
What will happen on December 21 is that the sun will cross the galactic equator (which is not the same thing as the galactic plane), another event which is nothing special, and happens every year. There’s a slight variation in timing because the year isn’t an exact number of days long – the timing pretty much repeats every four years. The Mayan calendar rolls over on December 21 2012 as the various cycles the Mayans used to adapt the length of the year to the length of the day all coincide on that date. There’s no more significance to that event than when the various cycles of the Gregorian calendar coincide. We keep counting the years from an arbitrary starting point, while the Mayans started over again – but in both cases, it’s just a way of keeping track of time.
Why am I posting this on UFO Religions? Because some people want to link 2012 to the end of the world, and also link the end of the world with ufology.
Since I am an amateur in these matters, I’d like someone who has expertise to read through the material at the link above (and it’s very detailed and targeting a number of apparent myths associated with 2012) and tell me where the material at that link is flawed. I will gladly then post those criticisms on the Yahoo group for a response.
I’ve said on occasion (on other grounds) that biblical prophecy has nothing to do with the 2012 stuff, and this material does little to make me backtrack. I personally think it’s a mistake to connect eschatology with UFOs. I do, however, think there is a possible connection between biblical prophecy and the kind of *thinking* that is part of UFO religious doctrine. Those are two different things.
