The end of the world, or at least universal catastrophe, according to the 2012 ancient Mayan prophecies, will happen on December 21, 2012. They predicted this based on star charting, which was first discoverd in 680 B.C. by the ancient Olmec civilization, who then later shared the practice with the Mayan peoples.
The Mayans have a very long history of charting the winter solstice and inventing their own calendars, probably for planting crops. They made 17 different calendars that we know of.
The Mayans were developed their own calendar in 355 B.C. that we now call The Long Count. With this calendar, they were able to use observations and mathematical genius to calculate future movements of stars across the sky.
Ancient Mayans were the first to discover the effects of the earth's wobbling as it spins on it's axis. They mapped out this rotation in a 5,125-year cycle, which causes stars' patterns of movement to drift gradually in the sky.
In relation to our Gregorian calendar, 2012 is the year that the sun reaches its solstice, a brief moment in time when the sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the observer. This happens on December 21 for the Northern Hemisphere and June 21 for the Southern Hemisphere.
In the year 2012, the solstice occurs at the moment of the conjunction of the Galactic Equator with the Milky Way. This happened last on August 11, 3114 B.C.
Click to join the 2012 official countdown, discover more about this important day in history, and dig in-depth about the 2012 Mayan Prophecies.
2012 Mayan Prophecies
2012 Mayan Prophecies
