Debunking 2012 Nonsense

In this video I debunk some 2012 doomsday theories: Mayan Calendar, galactic alignment, crossing the galactic plane, Eris, and Nibiru.

Symphony of Science - 'We Are All Connected'

A great music video featuring Carl Sagan, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Richard Feynman, and Bill Nye.

What's Up? No 2012 Doomsday

Welcome back to What's Up?

Last month, on October 7, the much hyped LCROSS mission slammed into the Moon. Some reported that it would split the Moon in half and that NASA was going to blow up the Moon! In reality the spacecraft that crashed into the Moon at breakneck speeds was only the size of a SUV. NASA scientists are currently examining all of the data collected from the impact and are looking for signs of water.

NASA's attempt to blow up the Moon isn't the only conspiracy idea that has been circulating recently. The idea that the world will end in 2012 has been spreading around the internet for a years and is now being promoted in the movie, 2012, which is due to come out on November 13.

One of the main reasons that the 2012 doomsday "theory" was made up is because of the ancient Mayan's longest running calendar. This calendar is set to end on December 21, 2012. The Mayans were an ancient civilization that lived for a few thousand years in what is now Mexico. They were highly advanced for their time and had many great mathematicians and astronomers. They devised many different calendars, the longest of which is a 5,126 year cycle.

Many are now fearing the end of the world when the calendar ends, but that's not the way a calendar works. The Mayans don't even mention the concept! Just because our calendar ends on December 31, doesn't mean that world is going to end! Once the Mayan calendar ends it starts over again, just like our calendar does.

Another explanation for the world ending on December 21, 2012 is that the Milky Way's centre, the Sun, and the Earth will line up in a row. The extra gravitational forces from this line up are supposed to knock Earth off of its axis and it will be the end of the world as we know it.

What they don't mention about this special line up is that it happens every single year! If you could get rid of the bright blue daytime sky for a minute, you would be able to see that the Sun is right in front of the Milky Way's centre on December 21, 2012, as it is every year. The extra gravitational force on Earth from this alignment is much less than the gravitational force of a person on the other side of the Earth.

If it's not the Earth, Sun, and galactic centre lining up that will cause the doomsday, maybe it will be from some other galactic phenomenon. As the solar system orbits the centre of the Milky Way it bobs above and below the disk of the galaxy. It has been proposed that when we pass through the disk of the galaxy the gravitational disturbances cause tons of comets to get knocked out of their orbits and fly in towards the inner solar system. These comets will then impact the Earth, ending life as we know it.

Yet again, a real situation is blown out of proportion. The solar system does bob up and down through the Milky Way's disk, but takes about 50 million years to do so. The solar system will actually take a few millions years just to pass through the Milky Way's disk!

Returning to doomsday caused by our solar system, is the idea that there is a giant object, called Planet X or Niburu. Planet X is given to any planet that we think is there but hasn't been discovered yet. In fact, Pluto was referred to as Planet X for a short period of time. Conspiracy theorists suggest that NASA is covering up information of a giant brown dwarf that is flying in towards the inner solar system and may possibly be the dwarf planet Eris.

A brown dwarf is a planet type object many times bigger than Jupiter. If there was a dwarf planet flying towards Earth, at least one of the hundreds of thousands of people in the world with a telescope or binoculars would have noticed it. Dwarf planet Eris is actually the size of Pluto and doesn't come any closer than 4 billion miles to the Earth.

Thousands of videos on video sharing websites, such as YouTube, show a bright object next to the Sun. This bright object is an internal reflection off of the lenses inside a camera, not a giant undiscovered planet near the Sun!

Back in reality, let's see what's up.

The Moon will be full on November 2 and will dwindle down to a new moon by November 16.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to lift off for mission STS-129 on November 16. It will install new sensors and bring other equipment to the International Space Station.

Jupiter will be in the South after sunset with Mars rising in the East a few hours later.

Just before sunrise, Venus and Saturn will be in the Eastern sky. Venus will be the brightest object visible in the sky (other than the Moon).

Until next month, just look up!

Hey Kids...

NASA's new Moon orbiter sent back some really neat pictures last month. These new pictures show what was left on the Moon during the last Moon landing, Apollo 17, that took place almost 40 years ago. In one of the images, you can clearly see the foot tracks from the astronauts walking and driving around. A few of the instruments that were left there can be seen as well. You can even see where the American flag was placed! Check it out at: http://tinyurl.com/yj6dpco . Maybe someday you will see the first boot print on the Moon and make a few new ones!

Richard Léveillé Presentation at Harbourfront Theatre in Summerside!

Astronomy Night At The White House

Obama talking about astronomy and science at the White House. He even looks through a telescope at a double-double star in the constellation Lyrae. It's great to see a president who understands how important science really is to society.

Phil Plait Commentary on "Death from the Skies"

Phil Plait talks about his latest book, "Death from the Skies" and some of the really cool ways that space could kill us.

What's Up? The Outer Solar System's Frigid, Yet Fierce Weather

Welcome back to What's Up?

Now that Summer has come to an end, the Athena Community Astronomy Club has wrapped up their weekly boardwalk viewings. Thanks to club members who made this possible and to everyone who dropped by to take a peek through one of the telescopes.

Although the weather wasn't great throughout the Summer, it doesn't even compare to the weather on other planets. Let's continue last month's tour of the weather on other planets in our solar system.

Last month we looked at the inner solar system, the rocky planets, and this month we'll continue to move outwards into the outer solar system.

Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, is the largest planet in the solar system. If you were to take all of the planets, comets, and asteroids, and put them together, they would easily fit within Jupiter.

Jupiter's massive size also comes with intense weather. A normal wind-speed that you could expect "on" Jupiter (it is made of gas and has no solid surface) is about 360 km/h (225 mph). The fastest wind speed ever recorded on Jupiter was an astounding 620 km/h (390 mph). Combined with Jupiter's -150°C (-238°F) "surface" temperature, there would be one nasty windchill!

Category five hurricanes are dwarfed by all of Jupiter's storms. It's biggest storm is currently twice the volume of the Earth and has been going non-stop for at least 400 years! This storm has sustained wind-speeds of 430 km/h (270 mph)! Another thing to watch out for: lightning, and lots of it. From Jupiter's night side, space probes have watched some of the largest lightning storms ever seen.

Moving on to Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, and the second largest, is a planet with some of the fastest winds in the solar system. In many regions there are sustained winds of up to 1760 km/h (1100 mph)! Combined with it being a gas giant like Jupiter (no solid surface), intense lightning, and a frigid average temperature of -184°C (-300°F), Saturn is not a good place to plan this year's vacation!

The next planet from the Sun, Uranus, another gas giant, is the third largest planet and doesn't have much better weather than Saturn. Even though it is the second coldest planet, at -210°C (-350°F), it still boasts impressive wind-speeds of up to 825 km/h (515 mph).

Last but not least, Neptune, the eighth and final planet from the Sun, is also the coldest, with an average temperature of -220°C (-370°F)! For some reason that has eluded scientists so far, the coldest planet in the solar system also has the fastest winds. These winds blow around the planet at a break-neck speed of up to 2100km/h (1300 mph), almost 600 meters (1800 feet) per second!

Pluto, now a dwarf planet, is so small it barely holds on to an "atmosphere" that is 700,000 times thinner than the Earth's atmosphere. It is so cold here, -235°C (-390°F), that its atmosphere (mainly Nitrogen), literally freezes out of the sky and snows to the ground!

Before Pluto reminds us of our upcoming winter, let's check out what's up.

The Moon will be full October 4 and will diminish to a new Moon by October 18.

Jupiter will be in the South in the early evening sky, it will be the brightest "star-like" object in the sky.

In the morning sky, half an hour or so before sunrise, will be Venus, Saturn, and Mercury. Venus will be by far the brightest object in the sky (other than the Moon and the Sun). Saturn and Mercury will be fairly dim and hard to pick out, Mercury will be only staying around during early October. All three can be seen in the East.

The Athena Community Astronomy Club's monthly meeting will be held on the last Sunday of the month, October 25, at the Wilmot Community Centre in Summerside. It starts at 7pm and runs to 9pm. All guests are welcome.

The astronomy club's website, although a work in progress, is up and running. Check it out at:http://acac.wetpaint.com.

Until next month, just look up!

Hey Kids...

Last month, NASA scientists announced the discovery of water on the Moon. The Moon rocks brought back in the 1960's contained no water but now the scientists have found water all over the Moon. It's not much, but it will be enough to allow future colonies on the Moon to mine water from the soil. People living on the Moon may seem pretty far off, but NASA is planning on returning people to the Moon by 2020. Living on the Moon may not be science fiction for much longer!