I don't know if this belongs in pseudoscience, but I'll post it here as I'm interested to know of the claim is verifiable. I've come across the claim that on 21st Dec 2012 our planet will be at the closest proximity to the heart of our galaxy. And, that it will at this point be unobstructed or eclipsed by any other planets.
What I'm interested in is, is this in fact true? (never mind the associated ideas that go along with this concept in various circles)

Closest proximity since when?

What will be unobstructed or eclipsed?

It's an incoherent claim.

It's BS. It takes approximately 250 million years for the Earth to complete one orbit of the galactic center, so any change in distance to it, between now and then or even now and a thousand years, will be infintesimal. And as we're 25,000 light-years away from the center there's all sorts of things between us and it, suns, planets, gas clouds etc.

As I said, incoherent.

It is true that the Earth, Sun and Galactic Core will line up on that date............... as it does every year.

magikrooster wrote:I don't know if this belongs in pseudoscience, but I'll post it here as I'm interested to know of the claim is verifiable. I've come across the claim that on 21st Dec 2012 our planet will be at the closest proximity to the heart of our galaxy. And, that it will at this point be unobstructed or eclipsed by any other planets.
What I'm interested in is, is this in fact true? (never mind the associated ideas that go along with this concept in various circles)

The centre of the galaxy is located towards Sagittarius which will be approaching solar conjunction in late December. Hence the Sun will be between the Earth and the galactic core. This happens every year as does solar opposition with Sagittarius six months later. Bottom line is that the proposition is a load of shite.

klazmon wrote:

magikrooster wrote:I don't know if this belongs in pseudoscience, but I'll post it here as I'm interested to know of the claim is verifiable. I've come across the claim that on 21st Dec 2012 our planet will be at the closest proximity to the heart of our galaxy. And, that it will at this point be unobstructed or eclipsed by any other planets.
What I'm interested in is, is this in fact true? (never mind the associated ideas that go along with this concept in various circles)

The centre of the galaxy is located towards Sagittarius which will be approaching solar conjunction in late December. Hence the SunEarth will be between the EarthSun and the galactic core. This happens every year as does solar opposition with Sagittarius six months later. Bottom line is that the proposition is a load of shite.

FIFY.

Essentially, Magicrooster, the alignment is verifiable so people conflate 1 fact's verification as verification of multiples other assertions laid along side it. As others have said, it happens every year so it isn't even an unusual astronomical event.

Sounds like there's some weird idea here as well along the lines that there's some risky thing about being in some kind of "direct alignment". Which there isn't either.

The rationalisation is that the alignment of the objects puts earth between two large gravitational 'fields' that allows cosmic plasma to flow from the galactic centre towards the sun. They seem to confuse magnetic fields with gravity. The proponents don't have a grasp of either physics or interstellar/intra-galatic distances.

sennekuyl wrote:

klazmon wrote:

magikrooster wrote:I don't know if this belongs in pseudoscience, but I'll post it here as I'm interested to know of the claim is verifiable. I've come across the claim that on 21st Dec 2012 our planet will be at the closest proximity to the heart of our galaxy. And, that it will at this point be unobstructed or eclipsed by any other planets.
What I'm interested in is, is this in fact true? (never mind the associated ideas that go along with this concept in various circles)

The centre of the galaxy is located towards Sagittarius which will be approaching solar conjunction in late December. Hence the SunEarth will be between the EarthSun and the galactic core. This happens every year as does solar opposition with Sagittarius six months later. Bottom line is that the proposition is a load of shite.

FIFY.

Wrong. It was correct as I wrote it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJjQMwEjC1I[/youtube]

klazmon wrote:Wrong. It was correct as I wrote it.

You're right. I'd mixed it up with other alignments. Sorry for getting it wrong.

magikrooster wrote:I don't know if this belongs in pseudoscience, but I'll post it here as I'm interested to know of the claim is verifiable. I've come across the claim that on 21st Dec 2012 our planet will be at the closest proximity to the heart of our galaxy. And, that it will at this point be unobstructed or eclipsed by any other planets.
What I'm interested in is, is this in fact true? (never mind the associated ideas that go along with this concept in various circles)

Hi magickrooster. This is a type of claim related to puddle thinking. I don't know if you know Douglas Adams' famous line...

... imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, 'This is an interesting world I find myself in - an interesting hole I find myself in - fits me rather neatly, doesn't it? In fact it fits me staggeringly well, must have been made to have me in it!'

You'll note that throughout human history, the famous stories all place humans at some kind of special place, or for some special purpose, or just with a special vantage point. This narrative forms a monomyth shared by all people, throughout all time. You can see it in the idea you shared above. The way to evade puddle thinking is to put stuff into context:


Closest proximity compared to all the other hundreds of billions of stars that are far closer? So why is that important?

Closest proximity relative to our normal proximity? That is a trivial amount comparative to the distances involved. Even were it true, what relevance does it have? Is there some dangerous force emanating all the way from the galactic centre that we're normally just beyond? What is this special force, why is it dangerous, and who precisely is saying that there is such a force?

The notion that the centre of the galaxy is somehow a special thing from which to be obstructed or not, or which can be eclipsed by other planets of lesser significance (although obviously more proximal). Some galactic symmetry hinges on our special planet, and when it arrives at a position then something of galactic consequence will occur?


Let's assume the coherent parts of the claim are true. That on 21st Dec 2012 our planet moves into the closest proximity to the centre of the universe that it's ever been. What happens? Absolutely nothing at all. There are billions of grains of dust and gas clouds between us and the centre of the universe - why would a poxy little planet or sun be of significance in eclipsing the centre of the galaxy - presumably a fucking great big black hole - from us in particular? What possible relevance does it have? If it's true, and I doubt it as most of it's incoherent with respect to elementary facts about our galaxy, then all it means is what it says - that we'll be at our closest proximity to the centre of the galaxy in X time. Perhaps a fun fact for astronomers, but public significance - zero.

Damn good post, spearthrower.