iSTAR – International STudies of Astronomy education Research database
  • Home
  • About
  • Browse Collection
  • Contact Us
  • Login
Home > Collections > AER Publications >  Resources for Responding to Doomsday 2012: An Annotated Guide
  • Resources for Responding to Doomsday 2012: An Annotated Guide

  • Back
15/07/2020 by S  

Document

  • Fraknoi – 2012 – Resources for Responding to Doomsday 2012 An Anno
    Download

Metadata

Thumbnail

Share

Share this on facebook Share this on twitter

Title

Resources for Responding to Doomsday 2012: An Annotated Guide

Abstract

Educators at all levels and in all settings are getting questions these days about the approaching “end of the world” catastrophes supposedly coming in December 2012. This resource guide provides a selection of useful resources for responding to student and public questions in this arena.

The latest internet myth to gain traction is the notion that the world will experience a dire catastrophe on the winter solstice (December 21) 2012, either from collision with a (mythical) planet called Nibiru or from some other astronomical cause. A large number of books and web sites have touted this notion for a while, as have documentaries on the History Channel and other cable channels that should know better. In 2009, the producers of a major movie thriller, called “2012,” spent quite a bit of money on a huge advertising campaign that seared images of catastrophe in the public mind, even setting up a fake web site purporting to show the science behind the idea.

As a result of all this media publicity, lots of people are worried and are asking astronomers about Doomsday 2012. David Morrison (at NASA Ames and the SETI Institute) has coined the term “cosmophobia” for the fear of astronomical disasters, and it appears that cosmophobia is significantly on the rise, despite the absence of any real evidence that 2012 will be a worse time for possibilities of cosmic disaster than any other year.

Here are a few selected web and written resources that give clear answers to questions about the 2012 myth from the scientific and archaeological perspective.

Date

01/01/2012

Citation

Fraknoi, A. (2012). Resources for Responding to Doomsday 2012: An Annotated Guide. Astronomy Education Review, 11(1), 010301.

Type of Publication

Article

Author(s)

Fraknoi, Andrew

Content

Culture and History

Construct

Academic Social/Discourse | General Teaching > Teaching Resource

Methodology

Blank

Target Group

Blank

Institution(s)

Foothill College

Journal Name

Astronomy Education Review

Peer-Reviewed Status

Yes

Volume

11

Issue Number

1

Resource Type

Resource Guide/Bibliography

Nation(s) of Study

United States of America

Language

English

Article URL/DOI

https://www.doi.org/10.3847/AER2012021

Continue browsing

 The Hetu’u Global Network: Measuring the Distance to the Sun Using the June 5th/6th Transit of Venus
Using online telescopes to explore exoplanets from the physics classroom 
  Back to items list

iSTAR – International STudies of Astronomy education Research database