KFOG Broadcast - Dec 21, 2012

Today I joined Tim and Greg on KFOG In The Mornings to talk about the 2012 Apocalypse and 2012 Hoax, but we moved to more topics including the solstice, asteroids, comets, planets and stars, with calls from listeners too. We had a lively discussion and I am looking forward to more broadcasts with them in 2013. Click here for Part 1 of today's broadcast, and Part 2 of the broadcast.

Debunking the 2012 Hoax

We are in full swing this week with discussions and rumors about apocalypse on Friday December 21st, 2012. There are numerous claims, including impact by a rogue planet (Niburu), flipping of the Earth's axes, alignment of the planets, alignment of the Earth and Sun and the Galactic Center, and of course most famously, the end of the Long Count Mayan Calendar. All of these are either false or have no connection to science, of course, and scientists are therefore not worried about any of these, since there is absolutely no scientific evidence that any of these things will happen (or in the case of the end of the Mayan Calendar, that there is any reality-based significance of that numerological moment). All we will have on December 21st is the usual winter solstice, a geometric alignment that signifies the endpoint of an annual journey around the Sun, same as any other year.

Debunking the 2012 Hoax

I like to envision myself in a spaceship watching the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, viewing our home planet whisking across the heavens, spinning on its axis and enjoying its perfect location in the Solar System. From up there, you see the planet in its majesty, much as the Apollo astronauts did, a jewel floating through the blackness of space. And then I envision little people way down there on the planet, asking themselves if a rogue planet is in our midst, but is somehow unseen by anyone. And people worrying about a calendar that was invented years ago, the significance of which is completely irrelevant on the cosmic scale of the Solar System and Universe. And I don't understand how rational, thinking beings on Earth can become so self-obsessed and worried about all of these myths. But over the millennia there have always been doomsday rumors, and apparently it's in our nature to believe such stories. It's myth, and if you stand back and take in the big picture like the astronauts did, you cannot help but see just how irrelevant all of the speculation and rumors are.

If you want to read, on a point-by-point basis, just how science refutes each claim of the 2012 doomsday, visit the highly informative 2012 Hoax website. I have met the creator and contributors to this site, as well as David Morrison of NASA who has been speaking out against the rumors for several years. Read the real story and don't worry. I'll see you on December 22nd.

Image courtesy of 2012hoax.org.

Astronomical Pseudoscience and the 2012 Hoax

With the imminent release of the movie "2012" there is a blitz of pseudoscience on the internet that is helping to market the movie but is also unnecessarily fueling fears of "Doomsday." My view is that good science fiction is fun and entertaining, but the movie 2012 has opened a new chapter in viral marketing and the use of social media to misinform in the name of entertainment. The movie makes numerous (but inaccurate) claims of disaster based on changes to the Earth's magnetic poles, collision with planet Niburu, alignment of the Sun with the Galactic Center, and of course the prediction of this by the Mayan Calendar. Good science fiction is engaging and this movie could have been just that, but it is trying to do much more.

I've found a number of informative and helpful websites to counter the fears being propagated. NASA's astrobiologist David Morrison has been the primary spokesperson fielding questions for NASA from concerned citizens and has an excellent site. Andrew Fraknoi of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific rebukes a broad range of pseudoscience on the ASP website. The Universe Today has gathered a number of articles by Dr. Ian O'Neil that clarify the misconceptions associated with 2012. My favorite collection of information and debunking is on the 2012hoax website, which is a direct assault on the movie and the misconceptions.

I was particularly moved by the comments I heard by David Morrison on the SETI Institute podcast "Are We Alone" and by the 2012hoax website, both of which point out that vulnerable people will look at the 2012 marketing websites such as "The Institute for Human Continuity", the blog "After the IHC" and the blog "This is the End" as legitimate sources of information about doomsday, as a reason to give up, to commit suicide or worse. Anyone with a willingness to learn and understand real science won't be fooled by the blitz of pseudoscience. If you choose to see the movie, I am sure it will be engrossing. But don't think for a minute that it is based on real science. It's not even close.

There are genuine scientific projects underway that are on the lookout for real threats. Here is the NASA Near Earth Object program, cataloging and tracking potentially hazardous objects. Thank goodness for science!