PHILLIPINES LAGS BEHIND LANKA IN SCIENCE:
World won’t end Dec. 21, astronomers say
MANILA, Philippines - A group of Filipino astronomers and planetary
scientists pushing for the creation of a ‘Philippine Space Agency’ is
the latest members of the scientific community to debunk the December
21, 2012, doomsday myth.
Academics from the Rizal Technological University (RTU), the only
school in the country offering a degree programme in astronomy, and the
University of the Philippines-based National Institute of Science and
Mathematics Education Development, said the world will not end in 2012
as rumour has it.
At a press conference in Quezon City on Friday, the group addressed
what it said were unfounded claims that a planet called Nibiru was on a
collision course with Earth, coinciding with the winter solstice in 2012
and marking the end of a cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar.
The scholars used the occasion to formally launch the ‘Philippine
Space Initiative,’ a proposal to create a Philippine version of the
United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or Nasa.
Frederick Gabriana, an RTU Professor, said a ‘galactic alignment’
will occur during the winter solstice on Dec. 21, when the sun
intersects with the galactic equator.
Normal cycle
“However, what is not true is when people say this will cause end of
the world,” he said.
“This occurs every 26,000 years, so if a galactic alignment brings
about the end of the world, the Earth would have ended millions of times
already. It’s a normal cycle that occurs due to the movement of bodies
in the galaxy,” Gabriana said.
The end-of-the-world rumour is based on the claim that the ancient
Mayans had predicted the end of the world in 2012, using an astronomical
event, the galactic alignment, that is believed will occur at the end of
the 13th Bak’tun in the Maya Long Count calendar (December 21, 2012).
On that date the Sun will align with the centre of the Milky Way
galaxy (or the galactic equator), which only happens once every 25,772
years. The Mayans are supposed to have known of this alignment and set
their Long Count calendar to end on this day because the alignment will
cause something cataclysmic to happen, like a planet colliding with the
Earth.
Dr. Jesus Rodrigo Torres, the president of RTU, said any planet
hurtling toward Earth would have been observed by astronomers years ago,
but no such thing had been observed.
The US Nasa has also debunked the myth in its website. “For any
claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science?
Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional
assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or
over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact,” it said.
“There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in
support of unusual events taking place in December 2012,” Nasa said.
The Filipino scientists also launched an initiative to push for the
establishment of a space agency that would be the Philippines’ version
of Nasa, where Filipino astronomers and space scientists would have a
central office that would lead research and development in space
science.
‘Laggard in Asia’
“Sadly, the Philippines is a laggard in the Asian region when it
comes to space science. We are even behind Vietnam, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh,” said Custer Deocaris, another astronomy professor teaching
at RTU.
Based on a draft bill to be filed in Congress, the proposed space
agency will conduct research activities in the possible launching into
space of space objects, such as satellites, the training of astronauts,
and flights within and outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
Jose Edgardo Aban, a scientist who was part of previous unsuccessful
moves to create a Philippine space agency and who is now connected with
the University of Brunei Darussalam, estimated that such an undertaking
would involve at least $1 billion, or about P41 billion.
(Courtesy: business.inquirer.net)
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