So far in our 2012 blog series, we’ve dealt with the Mayan calendar and claims of a planetary alignment. Another claim making the rounds says that on December 21, 2012, Earth, our Sun, and the galactic center will align, and something about this alignment will cause Earth to be annihilated.
This claim is trickier than most, because it turns out that we will experience a rough alignment of these three celestial objects on 12/21/2012. But don’t start investing in survival supplies just yet: it turns out that Earth, our Sun, and the black hole at the center of our galaxy align like this twice each year – and we’re still here!
We all know that Earth orbits the Sun once each year. What you may not know is that our Sun is also orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy. One complete solar orbit takes about 225 million years! As these two orbits are occurring, Earth, the Sun, and the galactic center experience an approximate alignment twice each year. Even this alignment is not perfect, since the Earth and the Sun’s orbits are tilted relative to one another.
2012 doomsayers make a big deal out of the fact that this alignment is occurring on the winter solstice. But the extremely long orbital period of the Sun around the galactic center means that this alignment has occurred on the solstices for years, and will continue to for quite a few more. The bottom line? There is no scientific reason to think that the approximate alignment of Earth, our Sun, and the galactic center will be any different on 12/21/2012 than it was on 12/21/2009.
Casey Rawson is the Science Content Developer for Science 360, and she wonders how a 50-pound drum of coffee would save anyone if a black hole really DID suck in the Earth.