Doomsday out, Christmas in, says astronomy expert

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines – Expect Christmas, not doomsday.

A mathematician and astronomy instructor at the Rizal Technological University (RTU) debunked the claim supposedly based on the Mayan calendar that the world will end today.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Frederick Gabriana said: “It is all speculations and has no scientific basis.”

Gabriana said a planetary alignment will not occur, as doomsayers have claimed will cause volcanic eruptions and lead to the end of the world.

“There will be no planetary alignment on Dec. 21,” he said.

“What we will have is a so-called a ‘galactic alignment’ which, even if it does occur, the combined tidal forces will be too small to have any significant effect on earth.”

Gabriana said galactic alignment occurs every 26,000 years when the imaginary point called the winter solstice is aligned with the imaginary equator of the galaxy.

“It’s just a chance alignment that occurs due to the motions of the bodies in outer space,” he said.

Gabriana said a planetary alignment occurs when the eight planets of the solar system are perfectly aligned with each other, as if they are standing in a straight line.

A planetary alignment is physical, while galactic alignment is invisible, he added.

Occurrence of galactic alignment and the winter solstice will not harm the Earth and cause a cataclysmic event that will spell doomsday, Gabriana said.

Other Filipino planetary scientists said the Aurora at the Northern Hemisphere usually highlights the winter solstice.

Aurora is a lacy splash of color and hues in the sky made up of ionized air particles.

Norman Marigza, a physicist and astronomer of RTU, said migratory birds, dolphins and other animals sensitive to the Earths magnetic field might feel a little odd, but other than that, everything will be alright.

“There is no doomsday. Christmas will come,” he said.

Astronomers at the RTU said as solar particles strike the Earth, they cause geomagnetic storms disrupting the planet’s magnetosphere, the protective shield against lethal radiation in outer space.

Solar flares or coronal mass ejections are huge bursts of solar wind and electromagnetic radiation ejected from the Sun into space.

Solar flares regularly occur during a solar maxima and poses no harm to Earth, astronomers said.