Recently, the announcements of the next end of the world appeared on the network again. This time the publications referred to the ex-employee of the US Geological Survey Ethan Trowbridge, who said that the apocalypse on Earth would come because of the so-called planet Nibiru. There were even reports on the network that the end of the world would come on August 16 this year.
The object has not yet been recorded by scientists, but fans of the Nibiru theory believe that this is the tenth planet in the solar system, which will bring death, once colliding with the Earth.
Where did the myth of Nibiru come from? Can it really destroy our planet and what do NASA scientists say about it? "Strana" has collected information about the so-called planet of death.
The Theory of the Writer Sitchin: Aliens and Sumerians
The planet Nibiru in popular culture started talking in the 70s of the last century after the statements of science fiction writer Zachary Stitchin, who wrote many books about it. Possessing certain knowledge, at the level of an amateur, in history, archeology and Semitic languages, he put forward the theory that Sumerian mythology speaks of the mysterious planet Nibiru named after one of the gods.
Sitchin said that he made such a conclusion after studying the Sumerian manuscripts unknown to official science. He studied Sumerian cuneiform on his own when he ran a shipping company and visited archaeological sites.
According to the American writer, Nibiru is the planet that in ancient times destroyed the planet Tiamat between Jupiter and Mars. And that from the debris of this planet the moon arose.
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Allegedly, this is a brown dwarf, or the tenth planet, which is in an elongated orbit and one cycle of its revolution around the Sun is 3,600 years, so it has not yet been visible from our planet. Sitchin stated that it will approach Earth in 2085.
Zecharia Sitchin.
In addition, he reported that the destroyed planet Tamat was inhabited by a civilization that survived and later visited Earth. Our planet, according to Sitchin, interested the aliens in gold reserves. And since it was difficult for them to get it, they introduced their genes into the genes of the "local residents" - Homo erectus. That is, they pumped them over and began to use them as a labor force, mining gold in Africa.
Allegedly, the myths about the ancient gods are retellings of advanced aliens who have already conquered space.
All these conclusions Sitchin made based on his own conclusions, biblical and Sumerian texts.
End of the world schedule
The idea of the near end of the world because of Nibiru captured many people. In their opinion, having come close to the Earth, the force of gravity of the death planet will cause global cataclysms - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons.
At the same time, it is not clear how Nibiru is going to do this, if, according to Sitchin, it is almost the most distant space object inside the solar system.
However, the so-called preachers of the apocalypse appeared. They called it the stage of purification of humanity.
A wave of excitement from the collision with Nibiru arose in the 90s, when the American Nancy Leader announced that she had been in contact with aliens. From them she learned that the Earth would die in 2003. And she announced that by this time it was necessary to euthanize pets in order to save them from torment. The date was named - May 27, 2003.
But the time has come, and the Earth still continued on its way in orbit and no incidents of a cosmic scale occurred.
After that, Nancy announced that she deliberately misled everyone by calling her words "white lies." She said she would reveal the real date later. And indeed then she announced that the apocalypse was scheduled for mid-2010. But again the "contactee" was wrong with the forecast.
This is approximately how the collision with Nibiru is represented.
After that, rumors about new doomsday dates associated with the "planet of death" continue to function.
So, they began to say that the date of rapprochement with Nibiru, which will destroy the Earth, is 2012, and that more than half of the people will die. People who believe in the end of the world in 2012 have stated that it coincides with the end of the Mayan calendar. Allegedly, the ancient Indians also predicted the death of the Earth. So did the Sumerians. Six years ago, on December 21, rumors about the end of the world were so strong that, in the wake of a wave of panic, they began to buy bunkers and products with a long shelf life, which may come in handy after the apocalypse.
Another surge has arisen recently after reports that the ex-employee of the US Geological Survey Ethan Trowbridge announced the approaching apocalypse due to Nibiru and that the information about this "scientists have been hiding" for a decade.
Also, the date of the near end of the world and the approach of the mysterious Nibiru was named August 16 by some resources and linked this with the approach of comet C / 2017 S3 (PanSTARRS), which the media began to call the "Green Hulk" because of the glowing gas cloud around it. The celestial body was discovered in September 2017. It is expected to reach the closest point to the Sun (inside the orbit of Mercury) on August 15-16. And after that, it will begin to move away from the solar system. The comet will be visible on amateur instruments from July to early August. It can be seen in the northern part of the sky, not high above the horizon.
NASA doesn't believe in Nibiru
Scientists do not take seriously the theory of the planet Nibiru due to lack of validity and consider it to be just a hoax.
In anticipation of the end of the world on December 21, 2012, NASA, which rarely comments on such rumors due to their absurdity, answered the most common questions about the apocalypse and Nibiru.
David Morrison, Senior Research Fellow at NASA's Astrobiology Institute, Doctor of Astronomy at Harvard University, answered questions.
David Morrison from NASA.
The myth of the astronomical predictions of the Sumerians
He refuted information about the so-called amazing astronomical predictions of the Sumerians. Little information has come down to us about the achievements of ancient civilization in this area of science. In addition, the Sumerians did not know about planets farther than Jupiter and did not even know that celestial objects revolve around our star.
And this, not to mention the fact that linguists note Sitchin's inaccurate and loose translation, which takes words out of context. For example, he declared about 12 planets known to the Sumerians. While on all the sources that have come down to our days, there are five of them.
The myth of the mysterious planet X
He also talked about "Planet X", after the discovery of which Sitchin's supporters declared that this was Nibiru.
In 1983, a special satellite IRAS discovered new sources of radiation in the infrared spectrum. After that, one scientific publication wrote that some objects may turn out to be undiscovered planets, because they do not fit the existing classification and rumors spread. However, later it turned out that these were distant galaxies.
Moreover, "Planet X" is not the tenth planet, but a conventional designation for an object, the existence of which is evidenced by indirect data. That is, it is not the Roman numeral 10 in the title, but "X". A celestial object is given a name after it is recognized as real.
By the way, in 2016, after Pluto was no longer considered the ninth planet of the solar system, astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Michael Brown (both from the California Institute of Technology) calculated another "planet X".
The period of one revolution around the Sun is about 10-15 thousand years. So far, the existence of this distant planet is only a hypothesis, since it was not visually discovered. She did not receive an official name, although among themselves Batygin and Brown call her, the Fat Man, the Josaphat, and sometimes George.
Michael Brown (left) and Konstantin Batygin (right).
The myth of photo and video evidence of UFOs
Also, NASA reported that the reflection of the Sun on the lenses of technology is often mistaken for a mysterious flying object or planet. This flare is located opposite the Sun and repeats its movements, if we are talking about video. By the way, this illusion is often mistaken for a UFO.
Popularizers of science explain that, if desired, any hypothesis can be fitted to the available facts, which is what the hoaxers use. In addition, a beautiful story about a powerful alien civilization and a planet-destroyer is easily perceived as the plot of a science fiction film. And it is more difficult to operate with scientific concepts in astronomy, history, archeology. This is what pseudoscientists use, offering a more "digestible" and understandable picture of the world.
NASA notes that decades later, the rumor that circulated on the Internet continues to function and at least once a day someone asks about Nibiru.
“When I begin to convince a person that no Planet X is moving towards us, I am suspected of deception, or even openly called a liar: they say, I hide important information from the public. Why then would someone write and call me if everyone knows better than me how things are in this mystical Nibiru?”- said astrobiologist David Morrison.
And it looks like nothing has changed yet.