Since the release of the movie, “2012″, the hype about the end of the world has increased. The year 2012 is much more than the title of an apocalyptic movie. This date has been discussed by many ancient civilizations and oracles all over the world. The importance of the date has been known for centuries in many different cultures, even in cultures that had no contact with one another. How does this happen? How does one specific year come into play as a significant year in many different cultures that never communicated?

The ancient Mayans were extremely advanced for their time. They were amazing astronomers and created calendars based on their astronomical knowledge. Contrary to popular belief, the Mayans had more than one calendar, including the Tzolkin and a “Long Count” calendar. When measuring long periods of time, the Maya used the Long Count calendar. A 360-day-year was equal to one “Tun” and “Uinals” were months. Twenty Tuns was equal to one “Katun”, and twenty Katuns equaled a “Baktun”. A Baktun is nearly 400 years. Thirteen Baktuns was what the Maya called a “Great Cycle” that equaled out to about 1,872,000 days or 5,125 years.

Scholars have tried, since the beginning of this century, to use our Western Gregorian calendar with the Long Count calendar to get a specific beginning and end date of this “Great Cycle”. Goodman created the “GMT Correlation” between the two calendars. This correlation starts the “Great Cycle” at August 3114 B.C. and puts the end date at December 21, 2012. The end of the Great Cycle is set at 11:11 PM GMT on this date on the Western Gregorian Calendar.

Although no one knows EXACTLY what will happen in 2012, there are many theories. For example, the sun is also supposed to reach it’s Solar Maximum in 2012, and could shoot a solar flare towards Earth that could knock out all of our power and cause global catastrophe. Another theory is that because of the galactic alignment that is supposed to occur on this day (the Sun, Earth, and the center of the Milky Way galaxy will align–even NASA has confirmed will happen), Earth’s magnetic poles will shift, causing major natural disasters like mega volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, giant storms, and the list goes on.

We DO know a few things astronomical happenings in 2012 on specific dates, like:

- Jan. 31 – The second largest Near Earth Object on record, named 433 Eros, will pass Earth at 16,639,090 miles.
- May 20 – Annual solar eclipse will occur on a Sunday. The path of annularity will be through the Pacific Ocean from northern China to California.
- June 6 – The second and last solar transit of Venus in this century will take place. The next is expected to occur in the years 2117 and 2125.
- November 13 – Total solar eclipse will occur and be visible in northern Austrailia and the South Pacific.
- November 28 – A penumbral lunar eclipse will occur.
- Decemer 3 – Jupiter is in opposition.
- December 21 – Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere occurs at 11:11 UTC and the Summer Solstice occurs int he Southern Hemisphere.
- December 21 – The Long Count calendar used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, among many others, completes a “Great Cycle”.

One thing to keep in mind is that the word, “Apocalypse” actually means “New Beginning” and not a tragic end as everyone makes it seem. Let’s hope that 2012 signifies a change in the world and human thinking to make way for a better Earth.

Sources:
http://www.crystalinks.com/maya.html
http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm
http://survive2012.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012
http://www.turingcentenary.eu