Galactic Alignment 2012

Category: File - :La Mojarra Inscription and Long Count date.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A date inscription for the Mayan Long Count

The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs which posit that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21 or December 23, 2012,Sitler 2006, Defesche 2007 which is said to be the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar. These beliefs may derive in part from archaeoastronomical speculation, alternative interpretations of mythology, numerological constructions, or alleged prophecies from extraterrestrial beings.

A New Age interpretation of this transition posits that, during this time, the planet and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era.For a sample of views see discussion and interviews in New York Times Magazine article (Anastas 2007). Conversely, some believe that the 2012 date marks the beginning of an apocalypse. Both ideas have been disseminated in numerous books and TV documentaries, and have spread around the world through websites and discussion groups.

Scholars of various stripes have disputed the idea that a catastrophe will happen in 2012, suggesting that predictions of impending doom are found neither in classic Maya accounts nor in contemporary science. Mainstream Mayanist scholars argue that the idea that the Long Count calendar "ends" in 2012 misrepresents Maya history. To the modern Maya, 2012 is largely irrelevant, and classic Maya sources on the subject are scarce and contradictory, suggesting that there was little if any universal agreement among them about what, if anything, the date might mean.

Meanwhile, astronomers and other natural scientists have rejected the apocalyptic forecasts, on the grounds that the anticipated events are precluded by astronomical observations, or are unsubstantiated by the predictions that have been generated from these findings.[http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html "2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?"]. NASA. NASA likens fears about 2012 to those about the Y2K bug in the late 1990s, suggesting that an adequate analysis should stem fears of disaster.

Category: File - :Galactic longitude.JPG|thumb|250px|Artist's depiction of the Milky Way galaxy, showing the galactic longitude relative to the sun.

The galactic coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system which is centered on the Sun and is aligned with the apparent center of the Milky Way galaxy. The "equator" is aligned to the galactic plane. Similar to geographic coordinates, positions in the galactic coordinate system have latitudes and longitudes.

Category: File - :Galactic coordinates.JPG|thumb |250px| The galactic coordinates use the Sun as vertex. Galactic longitude ? is measured with baseline the direction to the center of the galaxy from the sun in the galactic plane, while the galactic latitude b is measured between the object and the galactic plane with origin at the Sun

The Winter Solstice occurs exactly when the earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'. Though the Winter Solstice lasts only an instant in time, the term is also colloquially used as Midwinter or contrastingly the first day of winter to refer to the day on which it occurs. More evident to those in high latitudes, this is the shortest day, and longest night, and the sun's daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest.An Introduction to Physical Science, 12th Ed., James Shipman, Jerry D. Wilson, Aaron Todd, Section 15.5, p 423, ISBN 978-0618926961, 2007. The seasonal significance of the Winter Solstice is in the reversal of the gradual Category: wikt - :lengthening|lengthening of nights and Category: wikt - :shortening|shortening of days. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the Winter Solstice occurs on December 21 or 22 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 or 21 in the Southern Hemisphere.solstice. (2009). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved May 13, 2009, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online Britannica.com

Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.ReligiousTolerance.org

The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is a non-repeating, vigesimal (base-20) and base-18 calendar used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. For this reason, it is sometimes known as the Maya (or Mayan) Long Count calendar. Using a modified vigesimal tally, the Long Count calendar identifies a day by counting the number of days passed since a mythical creation date that corresponds to August 11, 3114 BCE in the Gregorian calendar.The correlation between the Long Count and Western calendars is calculated according to the one used by a majority of Mayanist researchers, known as the (modified) GMT or Goodman-Martinez-Thompson correlation. An alternate correlation sometimes used puts the starting date two days later. August 11, 3114 BCE is a date in the proleptic Gregorian calendar, which equates to September 6, 3114 BCE in the Julian calendar and -3113 in the astonomical year numbering. See Correlations between Western calendars and the Long Count calendar section elsewhere in this article for details on correlations. The Long Count calendar was widely used on monuments.

Category: File - :Karta ChichenItza.PNG|thumb|Map of central Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza (;See also from ,Barrera Vásquez et al., 1980, Cordemex dictionary "At the mouth of the well of the Itza") is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Yucatán state, present-day Mexico.

Chichen Itza was a major regional focal point in the northern Maya lowlands from the Late Classic through the Terminal Classic and into the early portion of the Early Postclassic period. The site exhibits a multitude of architectural styles, from what is called ?Mexicanized? and reminiscent of styles seen in central Mexico to the Puuc style found among the Puuc Maya of the northern lowlands. The presence of central Mexican styles was once thought to have been representative of direct migration or even conquest from central Mexico, but most contemporary interpretations view the presence of these non-Maya styles more as the result of cultural diffusion.

The ruins of Chichen Itza are federal property, and the site's stewardship is maintained by Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History, INAH). The land under the monuments, however, is privately-owned by the Barbachano family.Concerning the legal basis of the ownership of Chichen and other sites of patrimony, see Breglia (2006), in particular Chapter 3, "Chichen Itza, a Century of Privatization". Regarding ongoing conflicts over the ownership of Chichen Itza, see Castañeda (2005).