No Doomsday in 2012

Apparently, the world is going to end on December 21st, 2012. Yes, you read correctly, in some way, shape or form, the Earth (or at least a large portion of humans on the planet) will cease to exist. Stop planning your careers, don't bother buying a house, and be sure to spend the last years of your life doing something you always wanted to do but never had the time. Now you have the time, four years of time, to enjoy yourselves before… the end.

So what is all this crazy talk? We've all heard these doomsday predictions before, we're still here, and the planet is still here, why is 2012 so important? Well, the Mayan calendar stops at the end of the year 2012, churning up all sorts of religious, scientific, astrological and historic reasons why this calendar foretells the end of life as we know it. The Mayan Prophecy is gaining strength and appears to be worrying people in all areas of society. Forget Nostradamus, forget the Y2K bug, forget the credit crunch, this event is predicted to be huge and many wholeheartedly believe this is going to happen for real. Planet X could even be making a comeback.

For all those 2012 Mayan Prophecy believers out there, I have bad news. There is going to be no doomsday event in 2012, and here's why…

The Mayan Calendar

So what is the Mayan Calendar? The calendar was constructed by an advanced civilization called the Mayans around 250-900 AD. Evidence for the Maya empire stretches around most parts of the southern states of Mexico and reaches down to the current geological locations of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and some of Honduras. The people living in Mayan society exhibited very advanced written skills and had an amazing ability when constructing cities and urban planning. The Mayans are probably most famous for their pyramids and other intricate and grand buildings. The people of Maya had a huge impact on Central American culture, not just within their civilization, but with other indigenous populations in the region. Significant numbers of Mayans still live today, continuing their age-old traditions.

The Mayans used many different calendars and viewed time as a meshing of spiritual cycles. While the calendars had practical uses, such as social, agricultural, commercial and administrative tasks, there was a very heavy religious element. Each day had a patron spirit, signifying that each day had specific use. This contrasts greatly with our modern Gregorian calendar which primarily sets the administrative, social and economic dates.

Most of the Mayan calendars were short. The Tzolk'in calendar lasted for 260 days and the Haab' approximated the solar year of 365 days. The Mayans then combined both the Tzolk'in and the Haab' to form the "Calendar Round", a cycle lasting 52 Haab's (around 52 years, or the approximate length of a generation). Within the Calendar Round were the trecena (13 day cycle) and the veintena (20 day cycle). Obviously, this system would only be of use when considering the 18,980 unique days over the course of 52 years. In addition to these systems, the Mayans also had the "Venus Cycle". Being keen and highly accurate astronomers they formed a calendar based on the location of Venus in the night sky. It's also possible they did the same with the other planets in the Solar System.

Using the Calendar Round is great if you simply wanted to remember the date of your birthday or significant religious periods, but what about recording history? There was no way to record a date older than 52 years.

The end of the Long Count = the end of the Earth?

The Mayans had a solution. Using an innovative method, they were able to expand on the 52 year Calendar Round. Up to this point, the Mayan Calendar may have sounded a little archaic - after all, it was possibly based on religious belief, the menstrual cycle, mathematical calculations using the numbers 13 and 20 as the base units and a heavy mix of astrological myth. The only principal correlation with the modern calendar is the Haab' that recognised there were 365 days in one solar year (it's not clear whether the Mayans accounted for leap years). The answer to a longer calendar could be found in the "Long Count", a calendar lasting 5126 years.

I'm personally very impressed with this dating system. For starters, it is numerically predictable and it can accurately pinpoint historical dates. However, it depends on a base unit of 20 (where modern calendars use a base unit of 10). So how does this work?

The base year for the Mayan Long Count starts at "0.0.0.0.0". Each zero goes from 0-19 and each represent a tally of Mayan days. So, for example, the first day in the Long Count is denoted as 0.0.0.0.1. On the 19th day we'll have 0.0.0.0.19, on the 20th day it goes up one level and we'll have 0.0.0.1.0. This count continues until 0.0.1.0.0 (about one year), 0.1.0.0.0 (about 20 years) and 1.0.0.0.0 (about 400 years). Therefore, if I pick an arbitrary date of 2.10.12.7.1, this represents the Mayan date of approximately 1012 years, 7 months and 1 day.

This is all very interesting, but what has this got to do with the end of the world? The Mayan Prophecy is wholly based on the assumption that something bad is going to happen when the Mayan Long Count calendar runs out. Experts are divided as to when the Long Count ends, but as the Maya used the numbers of 13 and 20 at the root of their numerical systems, the last day could occur on 13.0.0.0.0. When does this happen? Well, 13.0.0.0.0 represents 5126 years and the Long Count started on 0.0.0.0.0, which corresponds to the modern date of August 11th 3114 BC. Have you seen the problem yet? The Mayan Long Count ends 5126 years later on December 21st, 2012.

Doomsday

When something ends (even something as innocent as an ancient calendar), people seem to think up the most extreme possibilities for the end of civilization as we know it. A brief scan of the internet will pull up the most popular to some very weird ways that we will, with little logical thought, be wiped off the face of the planet. Archaeologists and mythologists on the other hand believe that the Mayans predicted an age of enlightenment when 13.0.0.0.0 comes around; there isn't actually much evidence to suggest doomsday will strike. If anything, the Mayans predict a religious miracle, not anything sinister.

Myths are abound and seem to be fuelling movie storylines. It looks like the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is even based around the Mayan myth that 13 crystal skulls can save humanity from certain doom. This myth says that if the 13 ancient skulls are not brought together at the right time, the Earth will be knocked off its axis. This might be a great plotline for blockbuster movies, but it also highlights the hype that can be stirred, lighting up religious, scientific and not-so-scientific ideas that the world is doomed.

Some of the most popular space-based threats to the Earth and mankind focus on Planet X wiping most life off the planet, meteorite impacts, black holes, Gamma Ray Bursts from nearby galaxies, a rapid ice age and a polar (magnetic) shift. There is so much evidence against these things happening in 2012, it's shocking just how much of a following they have generated. Each of the above "threats" needs their own devoted article as to why there is no hard evidence to support the hype.

But the fact remains, the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy is purely based on a calendar which we believe hasn't been designed to calculate dates beyond 2012. Mayan archaeo-astronomers are even in debate as to whether the Long Count is designed to be reset to 0.0.0.0.0 after 13.0.0.0.0, or whether the calendar simply continues to 20.0.0.0.0 (approximately 8000 AD) and then reset. As Karl Kruszelnicki brilliantly writes:

"…when a calendar comes to the end of a cycle, it just rolls over into the next cycle. In our Western society, every year 31 December is followed, not by the End of the World, but by 1 January. So 13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan calendar will be followed by 0.0.0.0.1 - or good-ol' 22 December 2012, with only a few shopping days left to Christmas." - Excerpt from Dr Karl's "Great Moments in Science".

Source : Universe Today

Top Mysteries of Outer Space

The solar system, in which earth is situated, is but a speck in the Milky Way Galaxy, which in turn is just one of the countless galaxies in the Universe. Even though there have been a lot of breakthroughs in science and technology, they have still not been enough to solve the mysteries in outer space, especially the top mysteries listed below.

1. Black Holes

The Mystery: Where the Black Holes Drain

Black holes are formed when a region in space has such large concentrations of mass that it collapses. These black holes have such strong gravitational fields that even light cannot escape. This is why a black hole is invisible. It can only be seen when it sucks in matter, like gas from a nebula, and releases huge amounts of radiation. Though the existence of these black holes has been proved, scientists still do not know where the matter that gets sucked in leads to. Some speculate that these black holes drain into a parallel universe.


2. Antimatter

The Mystery: Where to Find Antimatter and How to Contain It

If you are a fan of “Star Trek,” you have probably already heard the term “antimatter” (or anti-matter) several times. Antimatter is used in that TV show as a power source for the spacecraft to make warp-speed possible. Unlike “Star Trek,” though, antimatter is not fictional. As you may know, matter is composed of smaller particles – protons, neutrons and electrons. Antimatter is just the same thing – composed of smaller particles, only having opposite charges. For example, the antimatter counterpart of the electron, which has a negative charge, is the positron, having a positive electrical charge. The mystery here is where to find this antimatter. This task is quite difficult because once antimatter gets into contact with matter, both particles undergo annihilation – a huge release of energy, which causes the destruction of both particles.

Here's how the cataclysmic interplay between matter and antimatter led to the richly detailed world we observe today. (Photo by Illustration by John MacNeill)

Big bang leads to the formation of energy and matter: the universe's first 1/1,000 of a nanosecond.
1) The big bang creates equal amounts of matter (blue) and antimatter (red). 2) One of every billion antimatter particles changes into a particle of matter. 3) Matter and antimatter annihilate each other. 4) The result: Antimatter destroys 99.9999999 percent of the matter in the universe.

The first atoms begin to form: another 3 minutes.
5) The few remaining matter particles combine in groups of three to form protons and neutrons, which along with electrons make atoms. Among the first kinds of atoms to form were hydrogen, deuterium, and helium.

Atoms coalesce into stars, galaxies, and eventually us: 15 billion more years.
6) Atoms cool, coalesce, and evolve into the universe we know today.


3. Extra-Terrestrial Life

The Mystery: Where to Find It, Where to Look, and What to Look For

This question has been asked for several decades already, even before man got the chance to go to outer space. The universe is a large place, which makes scientists and ordinary people alike ask if we are not alone. Though theories state that it is possible that there may be life outside our world, there is still no hard evidence of such. Several projects have been launched that aim not just to find life, but intelligent life forms like humans. The SETI project (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) is one example of such efforts in finding ETs.

4. Wormholes

The Mystery: Proof of Existence

Wormholes are hypothetical structures in the universe that are said to be “shortcuts” to another side of the universe. They got their name from the act of a worm burrowing into an apple to get to the other side instead of traversing the surface of the apple. Wormholes have still not been proved to exist, but the theory of relativity (think Einstein and E=mc2) includes their existence.



5. Dark Matter

The Mystery: How to Prove Its Existence and How to Detect It

Scientists believe that the biggest bulk of mass in the universe today is not the matter we can see or observe. In fact, this observable matter accounts for only about 4 percent, with the rest being dark matter and dark energy. Another thing that is unknown is the particles that make up this unseen matter. Though current technologies cannot directly detect and observe dark matter, its presence can be observed through its effect on its surroundings like nebulae, galaxies, stars, and solar systems.


6. Parallel Universes aka “Multiverse”

The Mystery: Prove the Existence of These Parallel Universes

This mystery is more of science fiction to ordinary people, just like in that Jet Li movie “The One.” You may be surprised to know though that there are some proofs and theories that point to the possibility of having several to unlimited numbers of universes. Called a “multiverse,” this would include our universe, the one in which we are situated. Who knows – maybe one day, technology might prove this and allow people to travel from one universe to another through wormholes.


7. Neutrinos

The Mystery: Capability to Travel Through Matter Unimpeded

Neutrinos are sub-atomic particles that almost have no mass, have a neutral charge, and travel almost at the speed of light. These particles pass through matter almost unimpeded. This makes detection quite complicated. The majority of the neutrinos that pass through us now come from our sun. Today, there are several neutrino detectors around the world. The reason why scientists are very interested in studying particles is because when fully analyzed, they can be used to detect and thoroughly examine stellar objects or bodies from very far distances, farther than what current technologies allow.


8. Quasars

The Mystery: Power source and Characteristics

Quasars are the brightest known bodies in the universe, producing light energy equivalent to millions of galaxies put together. Though these bodies are observable, little is known about their behavior, how they formed, and what powers them. Many scientists believe that at the core of these quasars lie super-massive black holes, and that quasars are the result of the energy released by the black hole as it devours matter. These giant power generators are said to give clues on how the universe started.


9. End of the Universe

The Mystery: How the Universe Will End

It is still unclear how the universe started, and scientists are no less baffled as to how the universe will end. The most dominant theories on the birth and death of the universe are the “Big Bang” and the “Big Crunch” theories, respectively. The big crunch states that the universe will end when it suddenly crunches back into a small particle - something like the Big Bang put on rewind. Another theory of the universe’s end is that everything would come to a screeching halt, including space time. Oh well, we won’t be alive by then anyway, so no need to worry. Who knows, humans may already be extinct by that time, and roaches the new masters of the earth.


10. Vacuum Energy

The Mystery: Its Behavior and How it Seems to Affect the Rapid Expansion of the Universe

Outer space consists of patches of matter in the form of galaxies, nebulae, stars, solar systems, and other celestial bodies. The space in between these bodies seems to be void of any matter, known as a vacuum. This vacuum, though, seems to influence or directly cause the rapid expansion of the universe where only one thing can cause such action – energy. That is why it is believed that in the vacuum of space lie “phantom” particles – energy that still cannot be detected by current technologies. Once hard proof has been found that dark or vacuum energy does exist, it will unlock the other mysteries of space.


11. Mini Black Holes


If a radical new “braneworld” theory of gravity is correct, then scattered throughout our solar system are thousands of tiny black holes, each about the size of an atomic nucleus. Unlike their larger brethren, these mini-black holes are primordial leftovers from the Big Bang and affect space-time differently because of their close association with a fifth dimension.



12. Cosmic Microwave Background

Also known as the CMB, this radiation is a primordial leftover from the Big Bang that birthed the universe. It was first detected during the 1960s as a radio noise that seemed to emanate from everywhere in space. The CMB is regarded as one of the best pieces of evidence for the theoretical Big Bang. Recent precise measurements by the WMAP project place the CMB temperature at -455 degrees Fahrenheit (-270 Celsius).


13. Exoplanets

Until about the early 1990s, the only known planets in the universe were the familiar ones in our solar system. Astronomers have since identified more than 190 extrasolar planets (as of June 2006). They range from gargantuan gas worlds whose masses are just shy of being stars to small, rocky ones orbiting dim, red dwarfs. Searches for a second Earth, however, have so far turned up empty. Astronomers generally believe that better technology is likely to eventually reveal several worlds similar to our own.


14. Gravity Waves


Gravity waves are distortions in the fabric of space-time predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The waves travel at the speed of light, but they are so weak that scientists expect to detect only those created during colossal cosmic events, such as black hole mergers like the one shown above. LIGO and LISA are two detectors designed to spot the elusive waves.



15. Galactic Cannibalism


Like life on Earth, galaxies can “eat” each other and evolve over time. The Milky Way’s neighbor, Andromeda, is currently dining on one of its satellites. More than a dozen star clusters are scattered throughout Andromeda, the cosmic remains of past meals. The image above is from a simulation of Andromeda and our galaxy colliding, an event that will take place in about 3 billion years.


Conclusion

Though man has created advanced technologies along with groundbreaking theories, all those are just not enough to explain the wonders and mysteries of space. All these experts can do right now is observe, device theories, and try to come up with ways to solve these great mysteries.

Sources : Crunkish.com, The List Universe, Popular Science