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height my name is david morrison i'm a space scientist at nasa ames research
center
for the last few years i've been answering hundreds of questions from the
public
about twenty twelve and the supposedly rector earth
and so now i want to take a chance to talk to some of you more directly
there is no director in twenty twelve there is no danger all the talk about
uh... doomsday
is a big holds
perpetuated on the internet
and with people trying to make money so please don't worry about it
let me talk about some of the specific things
there's been a lot of talk about a planet expanding the real as eighty
eight giant planet that's going to hit the earth or at least come very close in
december twenty twelfth
simple fact is neighborhood does not exist
aside from worrying about
the weird places the ideas came from
all you have to do is asked the astronomer city in the room
or planted acts were gonna come into the inner solar system in twenty twelve
astronomers would have been tracking it for the last decade
uh... all over the world amateur as well as professional and it would be visible
now to the naked eye
it's not there
it's a no show there's nothing to worry about some object coming in striking the
earth or damaging yes
there's also been concerned about the so-called galactic alignment
because in december of every year the sun is roughly in the direction of the
galactic center as seen from earth
just happens every year
your really doesn't mean anything
and there's nothing special about twenty twelve
if you're not worried about december
twenty-nine don't worry about december twenty twelve
in fact alignments although it may sound scary to some people are just not in
issue for scientists there no special forces one planets align or the sun
alliance hyatt is sort of uh... curiosity
but not something real scientific interest
there's also been concerned that somehow the earth's polls are going to flip
uh... no one quite explains how this could happen and if you're talking about
the rotation hold dear
back can't change
it never has and never will
some people are are concerned about the changes in the magnetic polarity
has shifted the north and south pole
which does take place every few hundred thousand years
but there's no reason to think it will happen in twenty twelve pdt and actually
no evidence that it would do any harm to us
even if it did happen
some people couple this with ideas of the uh...
of solar outbursts of flares or corona lassie chechens' which could be great
damage to the air
well
the solar maximum takes place every eleven years and occasionally that is
some damage to satellites in orbit
and we see bright aurora or northern lights here
but very little real damage is done
and there's no solar maximum predicted in twenty twelve
than excellent maximum is predicted for the spring of twenty thirteen
and it's actually
anticipated that will be much lower than usual
again
all this twenty twelve talk
is just the hopes
it's a fake
is nothing you shouldn't worry about
i get questions from many people who are really scared
even some young people have said they're contemplating suicide the sort of thing
it it's really sad
and the point of my talking to you now is just to explain to you
that they're is no problem there
and that the many things you see on the internet on you tube where people
playing
but there's some part of what frap about the descend on this
are not true
don't worry about twenty twelve pdt
and enjoy twenty thirteen when it comes