Is the Earth going to Align with the Sun in 2012?

[mountainboo]

I have heard many theories about 'End of Days' in 2012. Some are utterly implausible but this one seems to me to be something that could possibly happen.
I have read that the Earth will align with the Sun on this date as apparantly it does every 25,000 years, just along the 'Dark rift' and cause a Pole shift which, could cause worldwide devistation and that there is a possiblity that past Civilisations have been wiped out because it has happened before. Is any of this likely and is the Earth really going to Align with the Sun in 2012? TIA

[chakka35]

I don't know what you mean by 'align with the sun'. Please explain.
The best estimate is that polar reversal occurs on average about every 750,000 years and that the next one is overdue. But there is no way of predicting it.

[chakka35]

Sorry, I see that you were talking abut pole shift, which hasn't the same scientific respectability as polar reversal. Neverthless I see that both are being predicted for 2012!
Wow!

[jake-the-peg]

OK forget all the alignment BS - that's exactly what it is planetary alignments have no effect whatsoever - Jupiter might raise tides by a few mm if aligned with the sun and moon but that's about it.

No magnetic effects at all

Now magnetic reversal of the poles is a real phenomina and we are overdue for one. This happens over a period of say 50-100 years or so during which time there's little shielding from Solar storms.

The Earth's magnetc field strength is declining so it could happen in the next few hundred years (although it could be a few thousand equally)

One of the most noticable effects would be satelites getting knocked out and electricity systems could get damaged much more frequently.

It would be a real pain in the behind but end of the world? 2012?

I don't think so!

[dundurn]

The Earth is permanently aligned with the Sun - any two points are always aligned, they can't be anything else.

If the last "alignment" took place 25000 years ago you can be sure that there were no civilizations to be destroyed. 25000 years ago was slap bang in the middle of what we commonly call the Ice Age.

The world may come to an end in 2012 but it won't be because of anything written about "the End of Days".

[chadad]

If you have ever practiced map reading you will know that " Magnetic North " is constantly changing.

[imhotep]

Well apart from what mountainboo has just said above,I have a cut out section from a newspaper and have kept it to remind me of what might happen in 2012.
It reads,with a heading of 'Shifting of Earth's Crust'

Dramatic shifts in the Earth's crust could wreak havoc across the world.Author Graham Hancock says in his book Fingerprints of the Gods, that thats awaits us in 2012, and he cites ancient Mayan calendars to prove it.

Gulp!! Sounds a bit scary doesn't it??!!

[jake-the-peg]

I wonder what Graham Hancock is doing to prepare for this dramatic Earth Crust shifting?

I wonder if he's:

A) building a bunker and stocking it with baked beans and bottled water.

or

B) holidaying in Tahiti on the procedes of his book having a good laugh

[beso]

Apparently the Mayan calander ends in 2012. Some people think they knew something that suggested the world would end then. However if they knew anything they wouldn't have bothered going much past 1600.

My local hardware store has a calander that ends next month!

[mountainboo]

Lol.
Great replies, thanks. I appreciate you talking in Layman's terms Jake.
I have also heard about the Mayan Calender ending on this date and that's what prompted me to have a read about the various theories.
Isn't it true that most religions speak about the end of the World, couldn't it mean a new age rather than total anihilation?
I found it interesting that the Sumerians knew how our solar system was arranged in order and size. Aswell. our position in the Universe.
Imhotep, it sounds like you have been doing similar reading to me. You are obviously interested in the Egyptians. Now they were an amazing Civilisation weren't they?
It must be pretty clear to you all that I failed my Science GCSE!!

[jake-the-peg]

I'd be wary of believing everything you hear about what the Sumerians "knew".

A favorite trick is re-interpreting ancient stories in light of modern knowledge.

It's a bit like my reading Genesis and saying that it proves that they understood about the Big Bang.

You always have to ask How they knew this.

That's not to say there weren't some pretty impressive feats of Astronomy in the ancient world.

A greek called Eratosthenes calculated the size of the Earth by knowing sticks cast no shadow at midday at a certain place.

He was out by less than 1% in 200BC!

Not only that but he calculated the distance to the sun and the moon - these weren't quite so good but they were still in the right ball park.

I have little doubt that if he'd had a telescope and better equipment he'd have found the distance to the nearer stars!

It's actually quite incredible what you can deduce with quite primitive equipment - providing you don't have a thousand years of churchmen telling you that the Earth is at the centre of the Universe because they have a book that says so!

[mountainboo]

That's true Jake.
Although, I saw an artifact - a tablet, one that Saddam Houssain owned, and on it was the inscription of the planets etc.
So, what is the 'Dark Rift' as apparantly this is what is going to cause all the changes in tides and weather?

[squarebear]

Presumably the Mayan calendar ends in 2012 because they didn't need any more dates for practical purposes.

We have a computer system at work where a date of 31/12/4000 means never ending but we certainly don't believe that the world will end in 4000. It's just to us, that date is so far in the future as to suffice.

People have been predicting the end of the world pretty much since it began.

[Avatar]

"People have been predicting the end of the world pretty much since it began."

Now that's funny. Ish.

[david7]

If the world is to end in 2012 I dont think we will feel it. nobody can predict the end of the world. They say we will live on mars in 7bn years so that throws 2012 out of the window

[jondolar]

The alignment in 2012 is with the Earth and Sun in alignment with the Galactic Center.
If there was a civilization(s) extant 25,000 years ago that was destroyed, how would we know that they existed... isn't that what "destroyed" means? Maybe evidence is covered with several miles of ocean - Atlantis, for example, or maybe they lived on a (then) temperate continent of Antartica before the poles flipped or moved and evidence is covered with 2 miles of ice now.
I seem to remember in one of Van Danaken's books a Christopher Columbus era map that showed the coastline of Antartica, passed down thru generations of navigators, that couldn't be confirmed as being correct until 1947. Another map dated 1512 showed the Pacific Coast and interior rivers of South America (correctly) before they were (re?)discovered by Europeans in later decades and centuries.
We won't even get into the Sumerian civilization that may have preceeded the Egyptians by several thousand years, and who were probably the architects of the Great Pyramids and The Sphinx, and the Egyptians merely incompetent imitators, as the architectural prowess of later pyramids devolved, rather than improving. Gilgamesh was trying to find something that was historical to him. So was Alexander the Great.

[mancman1]

The earth and sun are both supposed to align with the centre of the universe (or the blackhole that exists there) with the sun between us and it. The mayans long count calender ends on this date 21 dec 2012. The fact that the calender ends on this date is where the end of days bit comes into it (but we dont say the world will end every 31 dec do we!) Scientists also believe that there will be increased solar activity but whether or not it will be increased enough to affect our satellites or other elecrical systems is questionable. Solar flares apparently knocked power out a while ago somewhere in Canada I think but if it was to happen on a global scale!!!