Thursday, August 2, 2012

Anonymous Question: Prepare to meet your DOOM!!!!

Or at least an idea of how it will come about.
"If you could see the end of the world happen, how would you want the world to end?"
It's funny - my high school Biology teacher asked our senior class the same question for our final project of the year. We had to pick and choose our favorite 2012 Doomsday theory and disprove it. In the end, it turned out to be a very fun project.
Something I never liked to do was work alone, but I just couldn't share my glory this time. I put together this epic Microsoft PowerPoint project, complete with an automatic slide-show at the beginning with Gir from Invader Zim singing his famous "Doom Song". 
Unfortunately, back then Windows Movie Maker wasn't compatible with YouTube, so a video was never made. So...you'll just have to deal with a written version.

For my assignment, I chose the Black Hole Alignment.
The theory:
At 11:11 GMT on December 21, 2012, the sun will touch the Dark Rift near the Galactic Center (The sun, Earth, and the center of the galaxy will be in alignment). Some believe this "Dark Rift" is a black hole. The Mayans viewed the Dark Rift as the center of death, transformation, regeneration, and rebirth. This alignment will have a huge gravitational effect on the Earth, throwing it off its axis and wreaking havoc and chaos upon us all.
"Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your dislikes." -Jawaharlal Nehru
Black holes, defined by NASA:
"A black hole is an area in space with a powerful gravitational pull." In other words, an imploded star.
(I'd like to pull away from my Doomsday topic for a science lesson, but I won't be that mean. So, click here if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Basically, the mass of the star is compressed together into a size that is too small for its mass, which can itself be as small as a large city, but with the same gravitational pull as its larger former self (which would have been very large).
The pull is VERY intense and constant up to a certain point away from the mass, which is the "surface" of the black hole, known as the event horizon. The event horizon is the point of absolutely no return; at this point, the gravity actually kicks in, strong enough to pull everything in faster than the speed of light. This means that there is no matter within the gravitational field of the dead star for light to bounce off of, rendering it virtually invisible.

A Supermassive Black Hole...at our center?
Scientists believe that most galaxies have a black hole at the center, including the Milky Way Galaxy. There is a radio-wave source called Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) that has stars moving rapidly in its orbit. The fastest star orbits SgrA* every 15.2 years at 3,100 miles per second. This speed could only be achieved if that star is orbiting something with a mass about a million times higher than that of our sun's. Because it is such a small space for something supposed to be so large, and the fact that this massive object is seemingly invisible, it is thought (and logically so) that SgrA* is a Supermassive Black Hole.
So, yes, one could argue that there is indeed a black hole at the Galactic Center.

The Alignment:
The Galactic Alignment can and will happen in 2012. The sun WILL - from the Earth's view - line up with the Dark Rift near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Oh, I forgot to mention; the "alignment" isn't even really an alignment. The sun's going to pass several degrees over the Dark Rift.
THIS HAPPENS EVERY YEAR IN LATE DECEMBER!

Fact or Fiction?
This "black hole alignment" theory seems legit, right? Yeah. So do most other Doomsday theories. The details of this theory are derived from the simple facts of the universe. Anyone can make a load of absolute garbage sound truthful and intelligent if they know enough random facts and can put them together. Basically, it's a bunch of crap, and the "black hole alignment" is a highly unlikely end for humanity.

  • If this "alignment" happens every year, why should 2012 be any different? Why would any year be any different?
  • That being said, why would the Earth's axis be thrown this time, or any time in the future because of this?
"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." -Unknown
 PHEW! Now that that's over, let's get back to that question. "If you could see the end of the world happen, how would you want the world to end?" I think it goes without saying that I would love to see the Black Hole Alignment destroy the world. Why? Because it would be pretty ironic after what I just typed up. And I love irony.

Although, I wouldn't mind if the Irken Empire ended up killing off the human race instead.