Planet X, also known as Nibiru or Marduk, is supposedly the tenth planet in our solar system and the one which was supposed to destroy earth on December 21. The good news is it didn't happen and here’s seven reasons why.
Imagine a planet whose very proximity could trigger tsunamis, cause earthquakes to erupt and make volcanoes go all volatile and violent on us. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg baby! Some say if the ‘demon planet’ got too close to the earth it might even push us into the sun, stop the blue planet spinning, or even strip away our old mother’s crust like a monkey peeling a banana. All of the aforementioned apocalyptic scenarios are part of planet Nibiru’s ‘X Factor’, and some say it’s due to arrive some time in the future and spoil our party. But just how much scientific fact is there to support these wild-eyed and universally crazy claims?
The Birth of a Planet
Planet X, Nibiru, Marduk, Tranpluto, Vulcan, The Ottawa Object, call it what you will. The planet which is said to dwarf the earth many times over has one unifying factor - it’s destructive. Yet although the existence of the other nine planets in our solar system (the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) have been proven beyond all reasonable doubt, the jury is still out on Planet X. So who started the Chinese whispers about this killer planet? The Sumerians, that’s who! A tablet of clay, named the Berlin Seal was found in the Middle East some time ago with something inscribed upon it which looked like a solar system. The only trouble is there were 11 planets on the centuries old lump of clay instead of the proven nine. Many speculated the tenth could be the moon but left the barn doors open for widespread speculation about what the eleventh could be? That is until people started putting two and two together and coming up with Nibiru. The only problem with any theory based upon the Berlin Seal being an accurate map in regard to our solar system is - at the end of the day it’s just a pretty lump of clay that’s full of errors. Saturn has no rings for a kick-off. Need I go on? Additionally, ancient civilizations loved to draw and paint pretty pictures, and the ‘map’ could just as easily be Venus surrounded by stars.
The Sumerian Connection
If you research enough literature from ancient civilisations you can probably prove that in favourable conditions, pigs can fly. Yet people with a little too much time on their hands never tire of pointing to the ancient Sumerians as solid proof that Planet X exists. Never mind that ancient cultures weren’t capable of installing a fully functioning plumbing system and wouldn’t have a clue how to operate an iPhone, certain types that favour sandals and wispy beards will tell you earnestly that the Sumerians were in contact with a bunch of enlightened extraterrestrials and as such, knew a thing or two about a thing or two. Poppycock! In the Sumerian tale of creation, the earth was spat into creation after a particularly violent tussle between two gods. Guess what their names were? Tiamat and Nibiru! To the Sumerians, Nibiru was a god not a planet, and Nibiru was their word for ‘ferry boat’. Nibiru was also the Babylonian word for Jupiter. The Chinese and Greek cultures were much more interested and knew a lot more about cosmology than the Sumerian farmers, and they never mentioned a tenth planet. In fact the Sumerians even believed the earth was a flat disc, so go figure.
A Question of Orbit
If Planet X has one thing, it has a big orbit. So big, physics would seem to suggest that it is actually impossible for it to exist at all. To put it into context, the earth does a complete orbit of the sun every 365 days. Nibiru on the other hand apparently takes 3,600 years. And what do you think it does once it gets here? It speeds up, says hello to the Sun, massively disrupts everything it encounters and goes on its merry way leaving in its wake a trail of terrible destruction as the earth dies bleeding. But just like apples cannot fall upwards, a planet with such a huge orbit would soon spiral into deep space , or alternately it would reduce its orbit dramatically and live in peace with the other nine planets. The universe may be a big place but it has laws you know.
The Punctual Planet
December 21, 2012 has been earmarked as the earth’s date with destiny for some time now. It’s apparently the day when Planet X will come calling and send us spiraling into an abyss without equal. However, if past dates with our nemesis have been anything to go by I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for an exciting and eventual night. You see naughty Nibiru has a habit of not showing up for the big occasions. Take the spring of 2003 for example. Fervent believers in Planet X’s existence were bug eyed with excitement and perspiring with panic that the ‘bull daddy’ was going to make an appearance and knock us for six. He didn’t. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist, he might just have stopped off at an intergalactic McDonalds to devour a galaxy or two before deciding are ultimate fate.
The Pull of a Planet
To be fair, it’s not just conspiracy theorists, many professional astronomers throughout history were convinced that Planet X existed. Since the early part of the nineteenth century, stargazers were haunted by a nagging mystery regarding the orbits of the outer planets. Uranus and Neptune, and certain asteroids appeared to be under the influence of the pull of an enormous and unidentified planet. Percival Lowell, the man responsible for studying the ‘canals’ on Mars, gave the mysterious planet a name and its name was ‘X’. Astronomers remained convinced that Planet X in all probability did exist and for almost 150 years nothing appeared to change their mind, until in the last two decades of the twentieth century they suddenly appeared to be a little bashful, red faced and apologetic about their previous assumptions. It appeared that there was no strange force pulling hard on Uranus and Neptune, it was simply that the stargazers had failed to properly identify and calculate the correct orbit of the outer planets. Whoops!
Spotted By NASSA
People who pontificate endlessly in the pubs an in the press about the existence of Planet X, always point to the notorious spotting of Nibiru by NASA in 1983 to prove their point. In that fabled year the world’s media reported that two astronomers called Neugebauer and Hock had discovered a new ‘Jupiter-sized planet’. In actuality they hadn’t but the press wanted a good story and what made better headlines than a killer planet? The truth of the matter is, Neugebauer and Hock had studied the infared spectrum and discovered an irregularity. They didn’t know what it was but suggested it could be a new planet or galaxy, or pretty much anything that fell between. The newspapers were convinced it was a new planet and wasted no time in telling the world that this was the case. It wasn’t, and subsequent research revealed it to be a new galaxy instead, which, when you think about it, is a lot more interesting.
It’s Been Here Before
Modern science does seem to suggest that around about 4-5 billion years ago something big and bad did slam into our planet and knock the stuffing out of it. So great was the collision it caused the earth to split and from the leftover debris the moon was formed. The theory is called giant impact hypothesis. However, there was no one on earth at the time to write about the event, let alone blame it on Planet X. History proves that the earth is periodically struck by disaster, but it doesn’t happen once every 3,600 years and the same heavenly culprit is not always to blame. In the final analysis, the one thing truly worth knowing about Planet X is - it doesn’t exist. Boom! Boom!
