galactic

Summary:

galactic alignment

galactic

bryan (guest) 18 Apr 2010 20:51

I have some friends that i have been referring this website to that are terrified of the crap that comes out of those pseudoscientists mouths from television. one of my friends asked about this whole alignemnt thing happenening once every 250 million years, and also there seems to be a periodical extinction around every 250 million years too….if there is something bad expected to happen, shouldnt it have started a little while ago. since something happens every250 million years or so, wouldnt 3 years be completely negligible compared to 3 years?…i mean it cant happen in just one day….
maybe im just not understanding properly bec ause there is something about 30-33 million year period , and something about 250 million years..

what are chances of something bad really happening from this ? i mean this is the main theory focused of all the tv shows

Re: galactic

Cameron (guest) 18 Apr 2010 22:32

This was asked awhile back on David Morrison's Ask an Astrobiologist site. I suggest you check his site for updates every couple of days, some of his answers have proven very useful for these sort of questions. Although I will mention that when he answers questions based on 2012, it is because he feels obligated to — as none of it is based off of Nasa data nor does it have anything to do with astrobiology. Here is what he says:

Q:

I have heard recently that there are mass extinctions every 250 million years (such as the Great Dying) and that we will be in the same position in our solar system in a couple years that these mass extinctions take place. This seems plausible since we circle the black hole every 250 million years or so, and there are two very large mass extinctions at 250 million years ago and 500 million years ago. Is there any truth to this?

A:

In science we look for causes or mechanisms. There is no mechanism here to cause mass extinctions or to influence the Earth in any away. The largest mass extinction (the Permian-Triassic) was 251 million years ago, while the Sun’s orbit around the galactic center has a period between 225 and 250 million years. Our position in this orbit doesn't matter. It also doesn’t matter that there is a giant black hole at the galactic center, about 30,000 light years away. Perhaps this question is a carry-over from the crazy claims circulating on the Internet about 2012 involving a supposed alignment of the Sun with the galactic center. Even if there were such an alignment, it would make no difference to Earth. There is no cause-and-effect relationship here. I urge readers to ignore claims based on numerology or astrology and try to think in terms of cause and effect.

David Morrison

Re: galactic

bikenbeer2000 18 Apr 2010 22:54

This is just another example of the 2012 doomsday brigade clutching at straws to try to 'prove' some sort of impending catastrophic event. Yes, there was a mass extinction about 250 million years ago and this is approximately the period of the solar system's orbit around the galaxy. But to imply that we are about to enter some 'dangerous' zone is completely wrong for the simple reason that everything else is rotating around the galaxy, so we're not about to run into a cloud of debris still sitting there from the last time round.
The 30 - 33 million year period is the half-period of the vertical oscillation of the solar system as it circles the galaxy, rather like a fairground carousel or merry-go-round with horses bobbing up and down. In this case, there might be a link between a greater density of material in the central plane and comet bombardment, but we passed the central plane about 3 million years ago and won't return through it for 30 million years or so.
These attempts to link our motion around the galaxy with 2012 have no scientific basis whatsoever. They are due to a misunderstanding by the doomsday claimants of something they term 'galactic alignment' which is a claimed visual alignment between the Sun and the galaxy but which, like all these claims, means nothing.