# Factual scientific data about 12/21/2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256 "2010-05-13T02:07:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patrick\_Mc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5e9695/32.png) [@Patrick\_Mc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patrick_Mc)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/1 "2010-05-13T02:07:25Z")
Putting aside all the hype about the Mayan prophecy for 2012, is there any scientific data that points to a major life changing event or group of events for that time period? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/2 "2010-05-13T02:26:26Z")
Winter Solstice, maybe? That’s all I got… ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/3 "2010-05-13T02:30:15Z")
The planets in our Solar System will be alligned, IIRC. What that means in terms of phenomena I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/4 "2010-05-13T02:35:30Z")
A guy I work with mentioned something about the solar system passing through the plane of the galaxy, or the vernal equinox direction aligning with something or other. That might be an avenue to check on - I don’t care enough to dig it out. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/5 "2010-05-13T02:45:12Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > The planets in our Solar System will be alligned, IIRC. What that means in terms of phenomena I don’t know. Nothing. The gravitational effects of that are less than the effects of walking past a large dump truck. The stuff **CurtC** mentions, assuming it means anything at all, would have even less of an effect. It will be a day just like any other, only shorter (assuming you die, Malone). ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/6 "2010-05-13T02:50:53Z")
OK, so I was reading up on the Mayan calendar on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayan_Long_Count_calendar)(so you know it must be true)…and I fail to see what the “big deal” is… OK, so the current calendar ‘ends’ on December 21, 2012 in the Gregorian calendar. So what? It would seem that the calendar also ‘ended’ on September 18, 1618, and on June 15, 1224, and 10 other times since the ‘beginning of creation’. Hell, the calendar I use ends on December 31st of this very year (and every one to come). Is there something ‘special’ about this latest ‘end’? Of course the answer is “No, but the nutjobs need something to talk about in case we all get tired of 9/11 and Obama citizenship conspiracies” ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/7 "2010-05-13T03:02:12Z")
Scientific? No. Nothing, nil, zilch, bupkis. Moronic? Ah, tons and tons of the most wonderful utter garbage the world has seen for a very long time. If you took all the nonsense sites with the word “quantum” used as sucker bait and lump them all together, you still won’t equal the tonnage of moronicity that the Mayan Doomsday dummkopfs will perpetrate on the planet for the next two-and-a-half years. And then, when nothing happens, some of them will proclaim that they “saved” us by their efforts, for which they should be compensated accordingly. I guarantee this! I see the future! ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/8 "2010-05-13T11:03:07Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > The planets in our Solar System will be alligned, IIRC. What that means in terms of phenomena I don’t know. Not true at all. There is a bit of kookery centring on the “fact” that in 2012 the winter solstice sun will be aligned with the galactic equator. Nothing to do with the planets in the solar system aligning with each other, and not true anyway because it actually happened [12 years ago](http://2012wiki.com/index.php?title=Galactic_Alignment). Perhaps this has been conflated with the planetary conjunction that occurred on [May 5 2000](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/alignment.html), when, as you will recall, disaster befell the entire planet? ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/9 "2010-05-13T14:30:21Z")
There’s going to be a cool [transit of Venus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transit_of_Venus,_2012) in 2012. It won’t happen again for another 105 years. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factual-scientific-data-about-12-21-2012/539256/10 "2010-05-14T14:47:38Z")
Isn’t the sun due to change polarity in 2012? Not really a big deal as it happens every 11 years. There is tho’ the danger of a massive solar flare when ever this happens. Even so, the worse that could happen is it takes out a few of our satellites and maybe a few electrical grids. A pain in the ass but hardly an apocalypse. Also, we’re supposed to be aligned with the ass end of that super massive black hole that’s in the center of our galaxy. _Some_ believe the BH could be spewing out all sorts of nasty stuff (Sorry, I forget the proper vernacular) that would char our planet to a crisp. FTR: I’m not too worried about it.