With "doomsday" approaching, one can only wonder if it might lead to a disaster of apocalyptic proportions or be just another day all over the world? While some believe that the Mayan prediction of the 'world coming to an end' might have clues about our future, others strongly feel that such theories are baseless with no proof and causing unnecessary panic.
However, many in the scientific community are unfazed by the doomsday scare. " Most of these rumours or claims are just theories drifting around and have no scientific basis to them whatsoever. Moreover galactic 'alignments' happen quite often. I don't think there is anything to be really scared about," said Preethi Krishnamurthy, junior research fellow (interstellar medium).
Sreejith A G, M-Tech PhD student at Indian Institute of Astrophysics feels these claims are pseudo-scientific. "You have a few details and you extrapolate them into massive events, it is absolutely ridiculous. There are lot of scary theories floating about. For instance, some believe that Planet X Nibiru will crash into earth. Well, such events do not happen within a matter of few seconds. It is a gradual process with thousands of astronomers monitoring the skies regularly, someone should have noticed something charging towards earth,” he said. According to him, technology has reached a point today where we can actually intersect the trajectory of moving asteroids and meteorites in the next 25 years. “So, if there is an imminent threat we would definitely know about it. The Earth has been through a lot even before and it has survived," added Sreejith who is specialising in ultraviolet astronomy.