The dread hole in the magnetosphere does not portend a 2012 doomsday

Artist’s rendition of Earth’s magnetosphere. NASA photo in the public domain.

This is an article published online on December 16, 2008, almost four years ago. Yet, when I viewed the sensationalist videos about the terrible hole in the magnetosphere, the videos sounded as if the huge hole was letting in damage from the sun that was going to annihilate all life on earth at any moment. Well, it’s been four years since this “hole” was discovered. At that time, it was not the first hole discovered. The main difference with previous holes in the magnetosphere was the way this one acted.

Dec. 16, 2008: NASA’s five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth’s magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to “load up” the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics. . . .

Space physicists have long believed that holes in Earth’s magnetosphere open only in response to solar magnetic fields that point south. The great breach of June 2007, however, opened in response to a solar magnetic field that pointed north.

Giant Breach in Earth’s Magnetic Field Discovered

That doesn’t mean something terrible and new is happening. It only means that scientists are learning new things about the earth, sun and solar system and this is something new they have discovered due to these new sophisticated instruments on the THEMIS spacecraft.

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

Inspirational quote about a river

A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure.

~ Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

Four more days until December 21!

How are you feeling?

Buddha inspirational quote

“Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.”

~ Buddha

Electrical blackouts could be rampant with solar flare destruction on December 21 2012

The flare and so called after-flare Solar Prominence.The solar disk was blocked in PS for a better visual effect.

Some people are spreading fearful projections that since the sun will be experiencing a solar maximum soon, IF there is a huge solar flares, as there were in 1859, the result could be the paralysis of our world. There are YouTube movies of predictions made a couple of years ago saying that on December 21, 2012, this projected solar maximum could cause the end of the world as we know it. In 1859, a solar flare caused telegram wires to melt. And, another solar flare of similar intensity could cause much greater havoc in the modern-day world in which we need electricity for just about everything.

However, I was in the Great Northwest Blackout of 1965 and lived through it.  In 1965, I was quite young–a small-town girl in the big city. At the time, I was in downtown Toronto about to take a night class at Ryerson. I was walking down the college’s halls when the lights went out. There were a couple of young men at their lockers. I’ll always remember the sound of my heels on the hard-polished floor of the college hallway as soon as it became black. The only lights we could see were the headlights of a cars turning out of the parking lot outside.

I’ll also always remember that the first thing one of the young men said as soon as the lights went out was, “Are you OK?” He was thinking of me. It meant so much to me to know that a young man’s first thought would be the safety of someone else.

On the other hand, the scariest part of the 1965 blackout was people smashing the big plate-glass windows of downtown stores for looting. I wandered out of the college onto Yonge St., downtown Toronto’s main street. Outside, it was crazy. In the dark, I saw a man furtively running out of a discount clothing store clutching four sweaters to his chest. One man almost smashed into me. Fortunately, a policeman had been watching. He caught my eye, his gaze gleaming in the beam of the headlights on Yonge Street. I could see his concern for me, a young woman unaccustomed to the mania of crazy people under stress. I backed away just in time to miss being hit by the crazy thief.

I decided to get on a Dundas Street streetcar and stay put out of the way of flying glass shards and darting thieves. The streetcars had supplemental power of some sort so they had some light on the inside, but they weren’t moving. I remember thinking how strange it was that a person’s first thought as soon as the electricity went out was to steal something. And, to steal four sweaters. Really? He had to steal four sweaters? They couldn’t have been very expensive.

So, in one night, I experienced the best and the worst of human nature.

In any case, we are less than two weeks away from that fateful date, December 21, 2012, and I am not seeing news items about increased solar flares. In fact, the date for the solar maximum has been revised to be sometime in 2013.

If you’ve seen some of these scary movies with a scientist or scientists talking about increased solar activity causing the end of the world as we know it on December 21, 2012, in my humble opinion, it’s time to take a breath and relax. It doesn’t appear to be happening.

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

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