Expert: Tom Whiting - 9/22/2010

Question
Hello Tom,

Is there a planet Nibiru which is reported to come close to Earth on 12 December 2012?

The NASA following webs site says that there is not a Nibiru:
http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/intro/nibiru-and-doomsday-201...

However, the following submissions to YouTube seem very convincing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKn_2neBSyo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTLyli2ctZM

Alternatively, you could search YouTube for NASA & Nibiru 2012 to find these and related submissions.

I don't know what to accept as true.

What evidence is there for and against this risk?

What do you think about this risk?

Regards,
Geoff Reeks
Email: Geoff.Reeks@bigpond.com
Mobile: +61 (0) 418 868 629       
Address: 36 Hazelglen Avenue
Panania NSW 2213
Australia  

Answer
Hi Geoffrey,
Unless you are into witchcraft and the occult, and the odd-ball conspiracy theories.... there is no planet Nibiru, and there is no red dwarf star Nemesis either... while we're at it.
Evidence to prove it to you?  How do you prove a nothing exists?
All I can say is, all our deep sky photo's (with Hubble, the 10 meter Keck's in Hawaii, and all those other big scopes)... have revealed nothing of an extra planet or extra dwarf star in the Solar System.... at least of the size required to do any damage.  True, little Kuiper asteroid belt small bodies are being discovered all the time out by Pluto's orbit and beyond, but these are asteroids in very stable orbits, not planets.  In fact, that was the main reason for downgrading Pluto... we now know that it's just one of thousands of asteroids in the Kuiper belt. (We didn't know that in 1930).
Also, besides photography, no body of any kind has been revealed gravitationally either.  Seems to me that after 4.6 billion years, there would have been at least some gravitational influence somewhere. All the current actions/orbits in the Solar System are quite easily explainable by simple formation theories, without invoking a "special" other body.

Also, I think your date is Dec 21, 2012... the date the Mayan calendar is allegedly supposed to end. But we're on the Gregorian calendar, so just because their calendar ends, doesn't mean ours does. Besides, the Mayans couldn't even predict their own demise, how would you expect them to predict ours?

There is a big happening on December 21, but it's this year, not 2012. We in the USA get a total lunar eclipse... I don't know if Australia
gets it too?  Have to check on that one, but I think the moon is just rising in eastern Australia just as totality is ending, on that date.
Check the NASA eclipse web page for more information.

The bottom line is... get off the computer and get outside at night with a pair of binoculars and star chart, and get into the REAL sky and real observing, and stay away from all those so-called false conspiracy theories.  There will always exist a "doomsday" group...
next one will be the asteroid Apophis in 2029 is going to hit the Earth...  yeah, sure.  And I got some swampland in Queensland I'll sell 'ya at half price too.
Clear Skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie, PA USA

FOLLOW UP:
I did finally have time to go to your NASA website... that astro guy
is spot on.  I would give the the exact same answers that he gives you.  I didn't waste my time on the UTube sites as I already know what the truth is, and that they would be a waste of my time. I'm already
sure they exist strictly for the gullible, the ignorant, and the non-science majors. (They are probably aimed at the US audience, since we are now dead last in science and math in our schools)... so it's no wonder you find the occult and conspiracy stuff out there.
Tom

FOLLOW UP:
Oh, sorry Geoff, it doesn't work that way in science... it's not up to US astronomers to prove a non-existence.  Like the crazy UFO people, the monkey is on the Nibrubian believer's back (pardon the pun)... to PROVE its existence. That's the way proper science works!  And in the words of the late Carl Sagan, extraordinary claims require extraordinary data and proof.  By that I mean, a verifiable (not fuzzy) picture, an accurate orbital calculation, a mass calculation (due to its gravitational influence on other bodies), and an exact location so it can be verified by the 'big' scopes, including Hubble! (That's what is required for any new Kuiper Belt object, indeed ANY new object including a new comet!  So what's the difference)?  We are still waiting.
Like a real UFO, land one in my backyard in broad daylight, give me a couple of hours to inspect it, and only then I may consider believing in it. But don't bring me lights at night, or some fuzzy pictures. I want the Captain's logbook and pencil, and a real ship in my backyard!
Good Luck.
FWIW
Tom