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posted by martyb on Monday November 20 2017, @09:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the there-IS-a-Domsday-Book dept.

Have you seen headlines that look like the following?

Nibiru BLACKOUT: Fears Planet X could knock out power worldwide
Nibiru PROOF: Footage sparks claims Planet X spotted over UK
Governments 'ALREADY preparing for Planet X apocalypse'
Could the end of the world come TODAY? Mysterious planet Nibiru 'set to wipe out all life with apocalyptic earthquakes'
Nibiru Apocalypse Upon Us Again—Here's How Yellowstone, Nuclear War and Asteroids Could Actually End the World

NASA scientist David Morrison has taken the time to debunk Nibiru... repeatedly (archive):

"I assumed that Nibiru was the sort of Internet rumor that would quickly pass," Morrison wrote in 2008, after his "Ask an Astrobiologist" website had become inundated with predictions that Nibiru was going to cross paths with Earth in 2012. "I now receive at least one question per day, ranging from anguished ('I can't sleep; I am really scared; I don't want to die') to the abusive ('Why are you lying; you are putting my family at risk; if NASA denies it then it must be true.')" he wrote.

Morrison laid out a detailed explanation, which he would repeat in years to come: There is no evidence that Nibiru exists; if it did exist, it would have screwed up the outer planets' orbits long ago; and people have predicted its arrival before and been wrong.

But to no avail:

"I got a note from a 12-year-old girl. She said she and her classmates were scared," he said in a 2011 video. "The simplest thing to say is there is no evidence whatsoever for the existence of Nibiru."

[...] Nibiru theories have by now become so abundant that if you spend long enough on YouTube or PlanetXNews.com you can find an apocalypse scheduled for just about any given day of the week.

And that's why Morrison was on the SETI podcast this week, distracted from his science once again to talk about a world that never stops failing to end. "I got a phone call the other day," Morrison said. "The world was supposed to end Saturday. The man asked, 'Should I ought to work on Saturday, or stay home with my family?' "

He didn't say how he answered. At this point, does it even matter?

Even politicians have taken notice. Just give up?


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