# The End, Planet X and 2012? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 22, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738 "2008-09-22T20:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/61 "2008-09-23T23:38:34Z")
> [@glee](#): > > As to what could be gained by informing the public - that public could then elect officials who would actually do something, rather than suppress the news. To be fair, there’s nothing whatsoever they could do against a planet. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/62 "2008-09-23T23:41:16Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, no, that was only a cover story to prevent panic over the approach of Planet X. In reality, the LHC was designed to produce black holes and\*\* fire them at Planet X\*\*. Do you mean [one of these](http://andromeda.wikia.com/wiki/Point_Singularity_Projector)? ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/63 "2008-09-24T01:56:08Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > C’mon guys. It is a leitimate question from a new poster. Even if Cecil’s Teeming Millions have come to the “correct” conclusions, that does not mean that the answers are widely known. > > I’ve got to run, (and will take a shot at the answer if it has not been answered by this evenng), but we ought to at least go through the motions of answering the questions. I realize you are the nicest and most earnest mod on the board, but you’re kidding, right? I can not figure out the question. I await your shot at it. I always figured these sorts of posts were left up to see the wittiest reply. Surely the kindest response is to quietly erase the OP. (In case the OP author is reading this reply, I am referring to the post and not the author.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/64 "2008-09-24T03:30:30Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > . . . but you’re kidding, right? Nah. I was trying to scan the Forum really quick between chores, today, and I missed the posts by **Whack-a-Mole** and **xtisme**. **glee** gives a good summary of the odd beliefs about which teh OP asked. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/65 "2008-09-24T04:32:41Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > The Shaving Cream Atom? That’s, right! But don’t worry, the Secretary of the Stratosphere, Hi I. Q. has dispatched a member of the Space Patrol and his trusty Space Cadet to deal with the problem. Soon, Earthlings will have plenty of illidium phosdex to last for decades. It’s all in this [news boardcast](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-HmBUYkE48) from the WB Network. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/66 "2008-09-24T07:44:08Z")
Subgenii indeed. False prophets I say! July 5, 1998 came and went and all is well. Bob is dead. Long live Bob! Tamara+, low priestess of slack ---
**Author:** ![sinical\_brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@sinical\_brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinical_brit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/67 "2008-09-24T12:35:11Z")
Pinzone is worried and now Blaine IS upside down. I always knew that twat would somehow be involved in The End Times … ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/68 "2008-09-24T12:55:45Z")
> [@Pinzone](#): > > Could this of the world’s upheavals be preface for The End/Begining, when some are predicting that we’ll be buzzed by Planet X, and things will turn upside down, destroying most, if not all life on Earth? > 😕 It could be. Who knows, right? Life is full of surprises. Am I right? Wouldn’t it be easier to spell “awesome” osom? I think it would. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/69 "2008-09-24T13:02:41Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I’m confused, too. What in the name of Jesus on toast are you talking about? Shouldn’t Toast be capitalized? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/70 "2008-09-24T13:46:05Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > To be fair, there’s nothing whatsoever they could do against a planet. True but they could try to get someone off this planet. Granted the tech to do so is iffy today and would be staggeringly expensive but if a planet is on a collision course with us I think we’d have to try. Setup a Mars base or something if not a Generation Ship. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/71 "2008-09-24T14:49:49Z")
> [@SiXSwordS](#): > > [Not True](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_planet) > > Not sure how to link to the chapter, but a search on Brady finds him. [Maybe like this?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_planet#cite_ref-28) ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/72 "2008-09-24T15:36:32Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Impossible. There’s too many astronomers in too many countries; too many amateur astronomers who’d surely notice something as big and bright as an incoming planet. Anyone can [buy a telescope](http://www.telescope.com). They even sell them at Sears. [You could see Pluto in a reasonably-sized home telescope](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/hsn.html) (though not that 3" telescope the Home Shopping Network was selling- scroll down to the bottom for the calculation), so you could see Planet X in one too. If you wanted to cover this up, you’d have to get all the professional astronomers in on it, _plus_ everybody who can scrape together a few hundred bucks to buy a decent telescope. That’s not happening. And even if there were an incoming planet and the news of this were somehow being covered up, it’s hard to imagine how that could have anything to do with the economy or hurricanes. Impending doom can only affect the economy if people know about it. Hurricanes aren’t affected by the planets- I’ve never even seen any evidence that they are affected by the phases of the moon, which do influence the tides. There’s simply no way that a still-distant incoming planet could cause a hurricane. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/73 "2008-09-24T15:39:42Z")
What if the planet were under stealth and also able to mask it’s gravitational effects? Say it was being run by mad rabid alien frogs bent on our destruction? And say they have a machine that can cause hurricanes and financial crisis and bad Republican governments at a distance? Sure, it’s speculation, but what if all that were true? THEN the end may be near and PlanetX may really be coming for us, right? -XT ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/74 "2008-09-24T15:51:18Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Anyone can [buy a telescope](http://www.telescope.com). They even sell them at Sears. [You could see Pluto in a reasonably-sized home telescope](http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/hsn.html) (though not that 3" telescope the Home Shopping Network was selling- scroll down to the bottom for the calculation), so you could see Planet X in one too. > > If you wanted to cover this up, you’d have to get all the professional astronomers in on it, _plus_ everybody who can scrape together a few hundred bucks to buy a decent telescope. That’s not happening. If Planet-X is the size it is purported to be and it is inside of Jupiter’s orbit by now (which it’d have to be) you wouldn’t even need a telescope to see it. You can see Jupiter easily with the naked eye. Planet-X would be easily visible to anyone (assuming they had a night sky pointing in the right direction and were in the appropriate hemisphere [north or south] but someone somewhere would be). ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738/75 "2008-09-24T20:44:28Z")
Does anyone think there will be a significant increase in credit applications in 2012? 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-planet-x-and-2012/464738.md?page=3)