Galactic Equator?

Question

Scientifically speaking, what will happen when the Earth passes the galactic equator in 2012?

Answer 1

The auspicious year of 2012 indicated in the long count calendar illuminates the fact that the Precessional movement of the Winter Solstice Sun will gradually bring its position into alignment with the very center of our Galaxy.

The big secret in this particular story is that we need not wait for the Winter Solstice in the year 2012 to recognize that we are entering into this time of profound transition. For according to the most recent astronomical calculations the Solstice Meridian actually coincided most precisely with the Galactic Equator between 1998 and 1999.

Just as the Earth’s equator divides the planet into two hemispheres of North and South, the Galactic Equator is the astronomical term for the dividing line of the Milky Way, separating the Galaxy into two halves. Similar to the time of the Equinox when the Sun appears to cross the Earth’s Equator and thus enters into a new hemisphere, so too in 1998 the Winter Solstice Sun began to cross over the Galactic Equator. Considering that the Sun is so large (about one half a degree wide) and the motion is so slow, our Sun will not be completely across the Equator and fully into the new Galactic Hemisphere until 2018.


"So we need to understand then that the Mayan 2012 date is simply an indicator to this 20-year period of transition – the birthing process of the New Age and the beginning point of the New Precessional Cycle of 26,000 years."

In other words, the Sun and our solar system will be crossing the "birthing point" for which it began.

There wont be any catastrophes and stuff like people are claiming, trying to make a buck off something nobody really knows about. This does not mean the Earth will be crosing this invisible "line" and even when it does, nothing will happen.

Answer 2

The Earth will not cross the galactic equator in 2012. Where do people hear such nonsense? The year 2012 is the end of a major cycle in the Mayan calendar, which is based on an old religion. Some modern people have decided this means they have predicted the end of the world. Other people have made up all kinds of reasons why this should be true, making up non existent planetary alignments, and now apparently a galactic equator crossing. No astronomer would ever talk about crossing the galactic equator anyway. They might talk about crossing the galactic plane, but that plane is not a precisely defined sharp boundary; it is more like a statistical average of the positions of all the matter in the galaxy.

All this 2012 stuff is total nonsense!

Answer 3

There are all kinds of prophecies out there.

Some revolve around the end of the Maya calendar. Some have to do with what the Hopi indians in Arizona believe. Some are more recent and have to do with alien visitors coming back, like author and pseudo-archaeologist Zecharia Sitchin, and his Annunaki race. And there was even a guy who did 'shrooms, peyote, and acid who predicted some kind of trans-dimentional awakening of the mass conciousness of humanity, named Terrance McKenna. We don't know if any of those things will happen, and something tells me not to expect them to. But we will see on 12/21/2012

In reality, what this means is that orbital plane of OUR solar system will be aligned with the plane of the galaxy. So we won't be tiled at an angle, we'll be aligned for a little while. This happens very rarely. Once about every 36,000 years I think.

Answer 4

The End of the Mayan Calendar after Dec. 21, 2012
Nothing will happen to the earth but around that time the sun will flip its north and south axis of which is normal and the sun will become more active with sun spots of which is normal. This happens every 11 years so again nothing will happen to the earth.
Some good reading at links below. Have fun.

Answer 5

Nothing will happen. It is, after all, our imaginary line. It means nothing to the galaxy or to our sun's (and Earth's) orbit around the Milky Way.

Answer 6

We will be sucked into a supermassive black hole and spaghettified.

Just kidding...nothing will happen. It will be just a normal year.