NASA surveys asteroids to see which are potentially hazardous

Orbit Comparison: This diagram illustrates the differences between orbits of a typical near-Earth asteroid (blue) and a potentially hazardous asteroid, or PHA (orange). PHAs are a subset of the near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). They have the closest orbits to Earth’s orbit, coming within 5 million miles (about 8 million kilometers), and they are large enough to survive passage through Earth’s atmosphere and cause damage on a regional, or greater, scale. JPL/NASA public domain image.

NASA conducted a survey to determine which asteroids are potentially hazardous to earth. NASA scientists discovered that, in comparison with near-earth asteroids, the potentially hazardous asteroids are brighter and therefore more likely composed of hard rock, such as granite, or metal.

The potentially hazardous asteroids pass closer to earth than near-earth asteroids and are considered large enough to survive passage through the earth’s atmosphere. That’s why they’re labelled potentially hazardous.

Asteroids with lower-inclination orbits would be more likely to encounter Earth and would be easier to reach. The results therefore suggest more near-Earth objects might be available for future robotic or human missions.

NASA Survey counts potentially hazardous asteroids

None of the potentially hazardous asteroids are slated to hit earth on December 21, 2012, as far as I can tell. It appears that the end of the world on December 21, 2012 will not occur because of an asteroid impact with earth. However, near-earth asteroid 2007 PA8 did pass within 17 times the distance between the earth and moon in November (last month).

Carol Chapman, author End of the World 2012 EBook, Book, and Movie

MAYA doomsday is a marketing fallacy

A Discovery News online article published on October 21st explores the public’s fascination with the End of the World 2012 prophecies. Ian O’Neill, author of the article, wonders why people are so enthralled with the Mayan prophecies. Many are noting that October 21st was only two months away from the fateful day. He especially wonders why the doom-sayers are promoting the 2012 prophecy so heavily when archaeologists are not finding references to the end of the world in the Mayan texts. He speculates:

Why do these strange individuals want us to believe in this nonsense? Some have a book to sell, while others have a horribly-edited YouTube video they want to share. Others are just plain odd. But regardless of the intent, the result is confusion and fear. Sadly, it is often people who would have otherwise gotten on with their lives peacefully who have swallowed the doomsday nonsense and become needlessly worried about the end of the world.

Two Months until the Mayan Doomsday Nonevent

Inspirational Quote on Winter

Photo Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman

End of the World 2012 Mayan calendar could have been influenced by visitors from Atlantis

Athanasius Kircher’s Map of Atlantis (c.1669). Note that north is at bottom. This image is in the public domain, because its copyright has expired.

Some people think that the ancient Maya were so proficient at astronomy, because they were influenced by visitors from Atlantis. The Atlantean influence could have also explained their marvelous calendar systems and their ability to coincide the beginning of the next cycle in the Long Count Calendar with the winter solstice of December 21, 2012.

Carol Chapman, author of the End of the World 2012 EBook

The Pleiades and the Mayans

The Pleiades is an open cluster consisting of approximately 1,000 stars at a distance of 400 light-years (120 parsecs) from Earth in in the constellation Taurus. (It also known as “The Seven Sisters”, or the astronomical designations NGC 1432/35 and M 45.) Public Domain photo by NASA

Some people believe the ancient Maya descended from an extraterrestrial race that came from the Pleiades star cluster. I suppose that might explain, for them, why the ancient Maya were so proficient as astronomers. It’s an interesting theory. In any case, this NASA photo of the Pleiades is gorgeous.

Carol Chapman, author of End of the World 2012 EBook

Hope inspirational quote and the Pleiades Star Cluster

The Taurus Constellation, which includes the Pleiades star cluster.
Copyright (c) 2010 Carol Chapman

Do you see that cluster of seven bluish stars in the upper right? They are the Pleiades, also called the “Seven Sisters.” The Pleiades were known by many ancient civilizations. They look blue, because they are hot blue stars. They look luminous because they are passing through a dust cloud.

The Pleiades are in the constellation Taurus. I identify Taurus by that group of stars that looks like a “V” just above the words, “It is,” in the quote. In my mind, that “V” looks like the face of the bull.

Do you see that in the place where the bull’s eye would be on the left there are two stars together? Those are the double stars of Theta Tauri, visible to the naked eye. Some people think a better star for the bull’s eye would be Aldebaran, the orange-hued star above the double stars. I like how Aldebaran sounds.

I took this photograph in 2010 during the “Winter Star Party” in the Florida Keys, where I interviewed amateur astronomers for the End of the World 2012 Movie, Book, and EBook. At that time, I also photographed the galactic center that appears in the movie, book, and ebook.

I chose this hope inspirational quote, because we need to hold onto hope right now, especially with the amount of fear some people are feeling, because of sensational, inaccurate reports and videos about the 2012 Mayan prophecy.

Carol Chapman, author of the End of the World 2012 EBook and Book, and director/producer of the End of the World 2012 Movie.

End of the World 2012 movies may use images of natural phenomenon for scary effects

This image is a full-disk view of the X-ray Sun and was produced by the Yohkoh solar observatory in 1991. The structures that can be seen consist of large and hot (>2MK) coronal magnetic structures. This particular image, one of millions, shows a quite active corona from near the maximum of the solar cycle. At the upper right (solar northwest) one can see an “X-ray jet”) squirting outwards – this was one of Yohkoh’s original discoveries.

Today I watched a number of online videos about the End of the World 2012. They tend to be emotionally gripping. Scary.

Because of the sophistication of their special effects, they appear to be factual. I wonder if these online movie-makers obtain some of their images from NASA.

I used to work at NASA under contract as a photojournalist. The photographic images I took for NASA could NOT be copyrighted. Here’s an excerpt from the NASA website describing use of  “Still Images, Audio Recordings, Video, and Related Computer Files:”

NASA still images; audio files; video; and computer files used in the rendition of 3-dimensional models, such as texture maps and polygon data in any format, generally are not copyrighted. You may use NASA imagery, video, audio, and data files used for the rendition of 3-dimensional models for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages. This general permission extends to personal Web pages.

Using NASA Imagery and Linking to NASA Web Sites

The online NASA article goes on to say that NASA needs to be acknowledged as the source of the image or video, except in the case of advertising. In commercial or advertising uses, the article says that use of these images or videos  “must not explicitly or implicitly convey NASA’s endorsement of commercial goods or services.”

I don’t know where these scary End of the World 2012 videos are getting their special effects videos, but they could come from the vast store of public domain images from NASA.

For example, I saw End of the World 2012 videos about solar flares as if it was absolutely certain that during the solar maximum of 2012 (now extended to 2013), all electrical activity, including the infrastructure of the modern world–our water pumps, our lights, our gas pumps to fuel our cars–everything–would be rendered destroyed by this imminent solar flare.

To back up this assertion, the video used fantastic images of solar flares, similar to the image in this blog post of the “X-ray Sun.” This image was taken during a solar maximum of the sun’s 11 year sunspot cycle. These 11-year cycles have been going on forever but were first discovered in 1905.

The reality is that this image was taken in 1991. We have survived for 21 years after this solar event. When images like these are used to frighten people for an emotional effect in a video, the fictional narration can make it sound as if the video is happening right now.  But who knows when the actual image was taken.

Yes, the sun definitely looks very scary in the photo. But, the sun is scary. It is a raging gigantic hydrogen fire as are many stars. This is what the sun looks like as observed at the Yohkoh solar observatory through very specialized scientific instruments.

My suggestion is to remember that these scary videos with scary images may be using images that were originally made to explain natural phenomenon.

Carol Chapman, director/producter of the End of the World 2012 Movie, Book, and EBook.

Survey says 12 percent of Americans fear the end of the world on December 21, 2012

The IPSOS survey commissioned by Reuters News  says that 20% of people in China, 13% in Russia, and 9% in Canada agree strongly or somewhat with the statement that  “the Mayan calendar, which some say ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world.” The results were released in May 2012.

When I first saw these statistics, I was still working on editing my End of the World 2012 Movie. The results of the survey spurred me on to continue with the movie and also write an ebook and book on the topic.

Carol Chapman, author of End of the World 2012 EBook

Excellent NASA video on End of the World 2012 and Planet X Nibiru

One of my main motivating reasons for making the End of the World 2012 Movie, Book, and EBook is my concern that many people truly believe that the Mayan prophecies say the world is going to end on December 21, 2012. I set out to find out the truth about the Mayan Calendar and the 2012 prophecy.

NASA is also concerned. According to NASA senior scientist David Morrison, he says that:

he gets messages from young people as often as once a week, some of them saying they’re so scared they’ve contemplated suicide.

US government asks people to calm down, says the world isn’t ending on December 21st

Please check out the excellent video at the above link which is on Yahoo! News Canada in which Morrison debunks the “fantasy” books on Planet X Nibiru with scientific fact.

Carol Chapman, author End of the World 2012 EBook

Thanks for downloading my End of the World 2012 EBook

Last weekend, Amazon featured my End of the World 2012 EBook for a free promotion. I appreciate everyone who downloaded that Kindle book during the promotion period. As a result, the book became a #1 Best Seller in the Mexican travel category for Kindle ebooks.

This matters a lot to me, because the higher the ranking on Amazon, the more likely people will find the book on the first page when they do a keyword search.

I want people who are confused or curious about 2012 and especially those who are afraid that the end of the world is imminent to find the book. It is a good antidote to the many sensational books that are fueling the fear that the world may be ending this month.

Carol Chapman, author of End of the World 2012 EBook