Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory : Astronomy FAQ

General Astronomy FAQ

This page has questions and answers on astronomy in general. For FAQs on specific topics, please see the links to the right.

1. According to the Mayan calender, the end of time will occur late in the year 2012. Since some people are saying that the end is going to be very dramatic, will we be able to see any meteors or large objects that would be coming close to Earth?

   Cable news and the Internet are currently full of fantasy and science fiction about the date Dec. 21, 2012, which is the end of a Mayan "long count" calendar cycle.  Unfortunately, having a statement get a lot of coverage in the media does not make it true. Cycles like this are familiar, like the odometer of your car turning up a string of zeros or like the year 2000 in our calendar. They have no physical significance.

   According to my sources, most ancient Maya inscriptions do not associate the end of the world or of civilization with the end of this "Baktun 13" calendar cycle - the inscriptions assume that time and the calendar will just keep on going. Inscriptions that may predict a major event at that time are fragmentary and difficult to interpret.

   There is no scientific support for the notion of any disasters associated with the calendar or with any astronomical alignments on or near that day. There won't be any alignments: the solar system's planets will not be aligned, and the Sun will not pass in front of the center of the Galaxy. Of course, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, meteoroid impacts, or other disasters can happen at any time, but they are just as unlikely on that day as on any other. 

   At this time, there are no dangerous interplanetary objects known to be coming close to Earth in the next few years.

   For more information, you may want to consult NASA's Ask an Astrobiologist web site, which has numerous questions and answers on the 2012 topic and many links to other sources of information on the Web.

   My sources: 

   1. E. Krupp, "The Great 2012 Scare," Sky and Telescope, November 2009, p. 22*
   2. D. Morrison, "Update on the Nibiru 2012 Doomsday," Skeptical Inquirer, November/December 2009, p. 57


2. What is the bright point of light I saw in the eastern/western sky early this morning/evening?

Very probably, an astonishingly bright point of light (much brighter than any star), seen in the eastern sky shortly before sunrise or in the western sky shortly after sunset is the planet Venus. The planets Mars and Jupiter are also often brighter than any star but are never as bright as Venus.

Information about what is currently visible in the sky can be found here.

3. Can you provide any more on-line sources of information about what is visible in the sky this week?

Here is a good source of general information: SkyandTelescope.com - This Week's Sky at a Glance

For users who understand celestial coordinates, here is a source of detailed information about any time period: US Naval Observatory Data Services