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Scientists debunk apocalypse theory

Astrophysicists have rubbished stories doing rounds that the year-long countdown to 21/12/2012 — marking the end of the five-millennium cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar — will lead to the end of the world.

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Astrophysicists have rubbished stories doing rounds that the year-long countdown to 21/12/2012 — marking the end of the five-millennium cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar — will lead to the end of the world.

They said there is no need to fear of an apocalypse as the Mayan calendar is coming to an end. “That any ancient civilisation would be so future-cognisant that its concepts can be woven into the modern worldview is far-fetched,” said Prof RC Kapoor formerly with the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

He refuted claims linking the end of the Mayan calendar cycle to a host of celestial objects and phenomena that are said to be leading to the end of the world.

“Doomsday has always been predicted and we have smoothly sailed through. This too shall pass. Only, wait for some next date that the doomsayers will invent,” added Kapoor.

The Mayan civilisation had command over astronomy and their present cycle (calendar) commenced in 3114 BCE (13 Baktun periods with each Baktun comprising 394 years) and the last date is 13.0.0.0.0.

According to the Gregorian calendar, this date falls on Dec 21, 2012. Once this cycle is over, as per to the Mayan prescription, the world as we know it will come to an end and an altogether new cycle, and a new world shall rise.

The Mayan calendar has evoked such excitement that even a movie — 2012 — was released a couple of years ago featuring the end of the world beginning December 21, 2012.

The film depicts a huge coronal mass ejection from the Sun that causes the Earth to tilt in such a way that the North Pole finally comes to rest somewhere in the middle of the US, and the world is ravaged by mega-tsunamis that drown existing land to cause an altogether new landmass. The film also shows only a few hundred people surviving the apocalypse by escaping the destruction by sailing through gigantic ships that finally reach the shores of Africa where a new civilisation begins.

However, the latest fear-raiser is nothing new to the human civilisation. Doomsday prophecies have found vehicles in Armageddon, anti-Christ, nuclear holocausts, polar shifts, and the like, over centuries. Be it a new millennium, planetary alignment or a comet, doomsday prophets have a field day with their end of the world predictions.

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