Skip to content
Surprising Science

NASA Debunks Mayan 2012 Apocalypse

Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory take on claims about the Mayan calendar and the end of the world, explaining away all the scenarios for a post-2012 apocalypse. 
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

What’s the Latest Development?


Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have taken a little time, three minutes to be precise, to explain away all the possible scenarios for the apocalypse allegedly forecast by the calendar of the ancient Mayan civilization. Will the foreign planet Nibiru crash into Earth on December 31? No, says NASA. Thousands of astronomers scan the sky daily and have seen no such indication of a rogue planet. Other say a planetary alignment on December 31 will cause chaotic tides but, thanks to their proximity, only the sun and moon affect our tides. 

What’s the Big Idea?

Even opening the door to discuss apocalypse scenarios is a mistake, says Don Yeomans, head of the Near-Earth Objects Program Office at NASA. The idea that the Mayan calendar ends after 2012 is erroneous because, just like our calendars which “end” after every year, 2012 is the beginning of a new calendar cycle. You can be sure that doomsday soothsayers will claim a conspiracy, to which Yeomans replies: “Can you imagine thousands of astronomers who observe the skies on a daily basis keeping the same secret from the public for several years?”

Photo credit: shutterstock.com

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Related
If you are in the throes of a metaphysical hangover, we offer you the cure: a whimper over the Mayan prophecy of apocalypse in the year 2012, followed by a shattering meditation upon the various ways the world might end.  

Up Next