CBCNews article on the ancient Maya and 2012 exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto

Here’s an excerpt from a great article called, “Did the Maya predict the world would end in 2012? Archeologists say Maya made no such prophecy.” The article is from CBCNews. here:

Click on the link above and you’ll be taken to the original article, which is full of information on the ancient Maya and 2012. The article is announcing a Royal Ontario Museum exhibit on the topic.

Here’s the quote:

“In a correlation of the Maya’s long-count calendar to our Western one, the end of this current baktun, the 13th, happens on Dec. 21, 2012 (or Dec. 23. See sidebar).

“The long-count calendar counts the time since creation, which the Maya date to what we would call a day in August 3114 BC.

“Dec. 21 vs. Dec. 23
Dec, 21, 2012 seems to be the most favoured date for when the 13th baktun on the Maya long-count calendar ends. But some sources, including the Royal Ontario Museum, go with Dec. 23.

“The two dates stem from two variations of the most used correlation of our calendar with the Maya’s.

“The ROM’s Justin Jennings said it went with Dec. 23 because, “there’s no evidence that the long count is linked to astronomical cycles” and the curators felt that Dec. 21 feeds into “2012 galactic alignment stuff, which just doesn’t hold water from an astronomy point of view and it does not work for classic Maya literature.”

“Maya expert David Stuart doesn’t care which date people choose but told CBC News that it is a complete coincidence that Dec. 21 will be the winter solstice. “Other baktun endings don’t really fall on important astronomical dates,” he noted.

“Obviously, baktuns have come and gone. This year just happens to be the one when the 13th baktun ends. The 12th baktun ended on Sept. 18, 1618, which was when Europe’s very destructive Thirty Years’ War was just getting started.

“Stuart writes that, “any such statements about the Maya predicting the world’s demise or alternatively, some ‘transformation of consciousness’ in 2012 is, to put it as simply and directly as possible, wrong.”

Did the Maya predict the world would end in 2012? Archeologists say Maya made no such prophecy

In this blog, I’ve written about David Stuart before. He is one of my heroes, because, by a wonderful set of circumstances, his parents were both archeologists and he spend part of his childhood with them at the Mayan ruin of Coba, which is within a half day’s drive from Cancun–I’ve been there twice, and I’ve included it my my travelogue, Yucatan Travel: Cancun to Chichen Itza.

From what I’ve read and seen about David Stuart, he had a Mayan nanny and so became prolific in Mayan. I remember seeing a Public Broadcasting Station special on deciphering the Mayan glyphs, in which David, at an early age–I think 16–was brilliantly decoding glyphs, helped by his fluency in present-day Mayan.

Inspirational Quote about finding your true path in life.

Everyone has the wisdom within to find and follow their true path.

You are invited to join scientists in looking for new planets

Just in case you’re really excited about the discovery of new planets and want to join in the search, here’s a link to the Planet Hunters, where they are looking for people like you. http://www.planethunters.org/ (By the way, normally I would be able to create a live link for you to click on to take you to the Planet Hunters’ website. However, I just made an upgrade on my WordPress.org blog–I’ve done this many times before without a problem–but this time, for some strange reason, I can no longer make live links for you to follow, nor can I add metatags to my posts, nor can I bold text or add photographs to blog posts. Sorry. It will probably take me a while to figure this one out. Thanks for being patient.)

I am excited about looking at the stars and about learning about new planet discoveries. I also want to help those people who become frightened when someone tells them that NASA scientists are keeping secret the discovery of a new planet, Nibiru, and that the ancient Maya knew about Nibiru (they didn’t) and have prophecies saying that Nibiru would end the world as we know it on December 21, 2012. No such Mayan prophecies exist. People have actually told me that they believe this based on what they believe to be real videos (they aren’t) of this planet crashing toward earth.

Nonetheless, the real discoveries of real new planets are wonderful and are being shared with anyone who cares to search for them on the World Wide Web.

The Kepler Space Telescope is finding new planets

The Kepler Space Telescope may find Planet-X also known as Nibiru, that is, if it actually exists. Nibiru is supposed to be connected with the 2012 end of the world Mayan prophecies. As it is, Kepler is find many potential planets. A February 3, 2011 New York Times article says:

NASA’s Kepler is a $600 million satellite telescope that monitors the stars. Its job is to conduct a kind of Gallup poll of worlds in the cosmos.

On Feb. 3, 2011, in a long-awaited announcement, Kepler scientists reported that they had identified 1,235 possible planets orbiting other stars, potentially tripling the number of known planets.

Of the new candidates, 68 are one and a quarter times the size of the Earth or smaller — smaller, that is, than any previously discovered planets outside the solar system, which are known as exoplanets. Fifty-four of the possible exoplanets are in the so-called habitable zones of stars dimmer and cooler than the Sun, where temperatures should be moderate enough for liquid water.about the Kepler space telescope that is finding planets:

Kepler Space Telescope

Two new planets, the first ever that are about the size of earth

This illustrated graphic shows the two newfound Kepler-20 planets shown to scale with Earth and Venus.

Continuing with my quest to find if NASA, astronomers, and other planet discoverers and enthusiastically sharing their findings of new planets with the world or keeping them secret. I am motivated to research these discoveries, because people I know have become so wrapped up in the 2012 / end of the world / Nibiru mania that they actually believe there is a conspiracy to keep secret the discovery of one very special planet, Nibiru, that supposedly carries aliens who have been on earth before.

My experience with amateur astronomers and professional scientists is that they want to publish their discoveries as soon as possible so that someone else does not get the credit for their discovery. They do not keep their discoveries secret.

Above, find artist’s impressions of what these two newly discovered planets, the first ever found that are about the same size as earth, might look like. They are not photographs. These planets are 15,000 light years away where no earth satellite and therefore, no camera has ever gone before. The image was created through cooperation between NASA/JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratories)), Cal Tech (California Institute of Technology) and T. Pyle (probably the artist).

New planets are discovered by the following process:

To discover the new planets, Fressin and his colleagues used NASA’s Kepler space telescope, which noticed the tiny dips in the parent star’s brightness when the planets passed in front of it, blocking some of its light (this is called the transit method). The researchers then used ground-based observatories to confirm that the planets actually exist by measuring minute wobbles in the star’s position caused by gravitational tugs from its planets.

First Ever Earth-sized Alien Planets Discovered

By the way, the new planets are called “alien” planets not because they carry aliens, that is to say extraterrestrials, but because they are alien or foreign to earth’s solar system.

Two new planets announced yesterday!

Here’s another exciting example of astronomers announcing to the world their discovery of two new planets. In fact, this announcement is so new, it is only one day old:

The newly confirmed planets, called Kepler-34b and Kepler-35b, were announced in January 11 online edition of the journal Nature, said Eric B. Ford, UF associate professor of astronomy. William F. Welsh, associate professor at San Diego State University, is the lead author on the paper.

Two New Planets Discovered Orbiting Double Suns

As NASA astrobiologist David Morrison said, astronomers could not keep secret the discovery of a planet such as the infamous Nibiru. The story is that the reason astronomers and NASA are not announcing to the public the entry of Nibiru into close proximity to the earth is because there is a conspiracy to keep the information secret.

I don’t think so. Since astronomers are announcing their finds of other planets, they would also announce the discovery of Nibiru, which is supposed to cause the end of the world coincident with the Mayan calendar‘s end on December 21, 2012.

Amateur Astronomers help to find a new planet. Is it Nibiru?

New planet discovered 15,000 light years from earth Photo from online Astrobiology Magazine

I’ve been discussing the fears that there may be a conspiracy to keep secret the arrival of a new planet called Nibiru that is somehow going to cause the end of the world on December 21, 2012.

NASA Astrobiologist David Morrison says he doesn’t know an astronomer, professional or amateur, who could be made to keep silent about something as exciting as finding a new planet.

For example, two amateur astronomers in New Zealand helped professional astronomers at Ohio State University to discover a new planet far, far away from our solar system. The new planet is 15,000 light years away, which means that it takes light 15,000 years to travel from the new planet to here. As a comparison it takes only 8 minutes for light to travel from our sun to here. Even if this new planet was on its way to earth, it would take it longer than 15,000 years to get here since a planet travels much slower than light.

And because two amateur astronomers in New Zealand helped detect the planet using only their backyard telescopes, the find suggests that anyone can become a planet hunter.

Backyard Astronomers Discover Planet

By the way, this is not the legendary perhaps fictional Nibiru since Nibiru is supposed to be close to or within our solar system.

Astronomers have NOT kept secret the discovery of planet Nibiru

In yesterday’s post, I quoted NASA astrobiologist David Morrison as saying that astronomers would not keep secret the discovery of a new planet such as Nibiru, because, “astronomers of the world, both professional and amateur, are a free-spirited group who couldn’t keep a secret even if ordered to,…”

I’d have to agree with Dr. Morrison. You have to remember that many astronomers, both professional and amateur, are looking for new planets in the night sky.

You can imagine that if you found a new planet, you would want the world to know before one of the other astronomers scanning the night skies for new planets found it and claimed the discovery.

Therefore, not only do astronomers reveal whatever they find, they try to publish the information as soon as possible so they can be the first on record as finding it.

If Nibiru had been found, whoever had found it would let the world know they had found it. Nibiru is supposed to be a portent of the 2012 doomsday.

In conclusion, astronomers have not kept secret the discovery of planet Nibiru, because it has not appeared, except in books about the theory of the return of planet Nibiru.

Planet Nibiru should be here by now

I love this quote from NASA astrobiologist David Morrison. He is referring to allegations that there is a conspiracy to keep secret from the public that: 1. a rogue planet is heading for earth (since 2003 but strangely, it hasn’t got here yet), 2. This rogue planet has a 3,600 year orbit and was discovered by the ancient Mesopotamians who called it Nibiru, 3. The ancient Maya knew about this planet and associated it with the end of the world in 2012. Evidently many people believe the information is being kept secret from the public. These people believe that Nibiru would be visible with the naked eye in 2009 (and should therefore now in 2012 be really visible with the naked eye but is not) and even before that time, the earth’s axis would be tilting (I assume more than it is tilted presently) causing a change in the length of the day. Morrison’s answer to those to accuse astronomers of keeping this information secret is:

I was introduced to this conspiracy theory in December 2007, when I began to receive questions about Nibiru submitted to NASA’s “Ask an Astrobiologist” Web site. I normally receive about a dozen questions per week from the public dealing mostly with life in the universe, but sometimes they include UFOs and visiting aliens. Nibiru seemed different, since it was claimed to be an actual planet that was being tracked by astronomers but hidden from the public. Knowing that the astronomers of the world, both professional and amateur, are a free-spirited group who couldn’t keep a secret even if ordered to, I assumed that Nibiru was the sort of Internet rumor that would quickly pass.
~ The Myth of Nibiru and the End of the World in 2012

NASA on Planet Nibiru, 2012 and the end of the world

If you’re looking for some real scientific answers to questions about Nibiru, 2012, and the end of the world, here’s a great NASA website in which NASA Space Scientist David Morrison answers questions such as the following. Check it out, there’s also a video.

6. There are many photos and videos of Nibiru on the Internet. Isn’t that proof that it exists?
The great majority of the photos and videos on the Internet are of some feature near the Sun (apparently supporting the claim that Nibiru has been hiding behind the Sun for the past several years.) These are actually false images of the Sun caused by internal reflections in the lens, often called lens flare. You can identify them easily by the fact that they appear diametrically opposite the real solar image, as if reflected across the center of the image. This is especially obvious in videos, where as the camera moves, the false image dances about always exactly opposite the real image. Similar lens flare is a source of many UFO photos taken at night with strong light sources such as streetlights in the frame. I am surprised that people don’t recognize this common photo artifact. I am also amazed that these photos showing something nearly as large and bright as the Sun (a “second sun”) are accepted together with claims made on some of the same websites that Nibiru is too faint to be seen or photographed except with large telescopes.

Nibiru and Doomsday 2012: Questions and Answers