Good news: even if the Mayan apocalypse does in fact happen Dec. 21, you can watch the world end in style. The Slooh Space Camera will be live streaming a series of cosmic views beginning Dec. 17 through the supposed Armageddon date Friday, allowing anyone interested in hunting for rogue planets, aliens or any other sign of the impending end times to follow along in real time.
"Rather than merely offer scientists' dismissals of the many silly doomsday scenarios that have now been heard by almost everyone in the world, and which have reportedly produced panic in Russia, Slooh will take a 'let's see for ourselves' attitude," Astronomy Magazine columnist Bob Berman, said in a statement.
Slooh plans to webcast live footage from observatories in Arizona and the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, Space.com reported. Officials from the organization said each day approaching Dec. 21 will feature a different apocalyptic "area of concern," from the possibility of a rogue planet called "Nibiru" colliding with the Earth, to massive eruptions on the surface of the sun.
"By acting independently of any government agency, which assumedly would be disbelieved by the millions who are convinced a giant cover-up is in place, Slooh will observe the planets and the ecliptic plane for anything out of the ordinary," Berman added.
According to NASA, the Nibiru rumors may have originally emerged in 2003. The old mystery-planet-collision rumor year was 2003, but when 2004 arrived safely, the rumors changed to 2012, says NASA.
NASA released a video earlier this year explaining why the Mayan calendar doesn't accurately predict the apocalypse, and that the myth that the planet "Nibiru" is heading toward Earth is easily disproved because astronomers have detected no such planet.
As the supposed Mayan end of times approaches on Dec. 21, anxiety and fear are running high, inspiring some wild predictions and behavior. People are frantically preparing for Armageddon the world over, flocking to such far off spiritual destinations as Bugarach, France and Mount Rtanj, Serbia to await alien saviors, a new dawn that will "upgrade" human consciousness, a door opening up another dimension and other surreal phenomena to occur.
"At least a once a week I get a message from a young person - as young as 11 - who says they are ill and/or contemplating suicide because of the coming doomsday," said David Morrison, a planetary astronomer and senior scientist for NASA who answers questions from the public about astrobiology, in an interview with Time.
Most Doomsday soothsayers are frightened because the 13th bak'tun (or 144,000-day cycle) of the Mayan Long Count calendar wraps up on Dec. 21, marking the end of a cycle of creation. However, as Space.com notes, "the ancient Maya probably would not have thought the world was going to end Friday, rather, they likely would simply have celebrated and rolled the calendar over to a new bak'tun."
NASA agrees. "Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than four billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012," NASA researchers wrote.
Wild doomsday prophecies aren't the only reason the Dec. 21 date holds significance; it's also the winter solstice. The start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Friday will also be the shortest day of the year for those in that part of the world, while it will be the most sunshine those in the Southern Hemisphere will enjoy in 2012.
A full schedule of Slooh's planned shows for the week is available at Slooh's website.
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