Sorry, Chicken Little, the sky isn't falling

I think we all know the story of Chicken Little. The character who, when hit on the head by a falling acorn, determines the sky is falling and sets off to tell the king. Along the way he gathers a varied group of like-minded believers who he has convinced the sky is indeed falling because he has been hit by a piece of it.

The group eventually meets a fox who promptly agrees with Chicken Little and says he will lead them to the king, whereupon he eventually has them all for lunch, and they were the lunch.

We are currently experiencing a plethora of such tales that the sky is falling, or rather, the world is ending on Dec. 21, 2012, because the vaunted Mayan long count calendar is ending on that date.

Along the way this tale has gathered several "fellow travelers" who have all concluded the world is indeed ending, but they have their own version of it.

Besides the ending of the Mayan calendar, there is a giant planet, sometimes called Planet X, or sometimes Nibiru, which will either crash into the Earth or come so close that its gravity will do all kinds of nasty things to us.

Another scenario says that Earth, the Sun, and the center of the Milky Way will all be in alignment on that date which will cause a reversal of polarity on Earth with who knows how many evil consequences.

One of my favorites is the planets will all align on the same side of the Sun and the combined gravity will throw Earth off its axis with all the resulting in summary bad things occurring.

One of my favorite science authors, Carl Sagan, once said, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." I am sorry to tell you this but, quite frankly, there is no evidence, extraordinary or otherwise, for any of the above mentioned occurrences. Nor is there for any of the other currently circulating claims as to the end of the world on Dec. 21,2001.

Let's look at some of these.

One: the Mayan calendar does indeed end on Dec. 21,2012, but that means just one thing, the calendar ends. I have a calendar on my wall and it ends on December 31, 2009, but that doesn't mean the world is ending. All either of the events mean is, it is time to buy a new calendar.

Two: As for the huge planets coming our way, Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Objects office has said, "Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. 'Nibiru simply put -- does not exist."

Three: The alignment of the Sun, Earth, and center of the Milky Way. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, has said, "The Sun, Earth, and center of the Milky Way do align, but that happens every December."

There is also no planetary alignment for several more decades. When it does happen, the gravitic effects on Earth will be about the same as the gravity effects between a grain of sand and your car.

There are tons of Web sites, books, and now even a movie about Dec. 21, 2012, none of which have any scientific background or truth at all. They are all designed for one thing, to separate you from your hard-earned money. The moral to our little tale is the same as it is for Chicken Little, don't believe everything you hear, or you might end up being someone's lunch.

SKY WATCH:

Jupiter remains the "Evening Star," at least for the next few weeks. Jupiter and Neptune are still nice binocular objects in the early evening. The Moon and Uranus will also be a nice object in binoculars on the 25th and 26th. Catch the Moon and Pleiades all night on Dec. 1. They will be together all night, but the best view will be in the west in the early morning hours.

NEXT TIME:

More astronomical blathering.