Ah, memories... :) This all reminds me of March (10th?) 1982 when an supposed alignment of planets was going to cause the world to end. There was a book written about it (The Jupiter Effect) and it was all over the news. Never mind the fact that the so called alignment had the planets strung out over a 100+ degree arc. So what was the reaction from those of us doing star parties at the time (instigated by Siegfried I'm sure and maybe Brent Watson)? To hold an "End of the World" star party at Harmons, of course. Talk about a successful star party, I think the only better attended star parties in this area were the ones for Comet Halley. Not even the 2003 Mars Watches at SPOC were so well attended. So maybe we'll end up turning this 2012 hokum into something good with another End of the World star party. Hey, and we could advertise it as "They didn't get us in '82. Will they get us this time?" Historical note: SLAS did not start doing star parties officially at Harmons until 1989. But according to Siegfried in the May-June 2005 Nova, it was the 1982 event that cemented the ties between local astronomers and Harmons. And that, of course, later led to Harmons paying for the Harmons Observatory at SPOC. patrick On 08 Mar 2008, at 17:42, Canopus56 wrote:
Here are my notes on this topic which may be of use to other club members responding to general public questions during summer star parties regarding the Doomsday 2012 new age theory.
This month's _Catalyst_ magazine (March 2008 at 14-16) has an extensive article interviewing John Major Jenkins << http://www.alignment2012.com/ >>, a new age author, who has popularized that claim that the approaching 13th b'ak'tun of the Mayan calendar which ends near or on the winter solstice of Dec. 21, 2012, predicts the end of the current spiritual age and, prefaced by the calamities of death, famine and destruction, the coming of a new and better age.
This new age myth smells like it will have some traction in the popular mind and that traction will increase through 2012. So anticipating getting hit with general public questions on this one during star parties (yes, I still get "Planet X" inquiries), I decided to start a myth busting folder on the Doomsday 2012 new age theory.