What is the galactic alignment?

Question

By looking at some of your questions, do you believe that there will be some disaster in December 2012?

Answer 1

A fraud to sell sensationalist garbage.

If you look at any star charts you will see the the ecliptic crosses the plane of the galaxy close to the December solstice, but the galactic centre, Sagittarius A, is 6 degrees away.

Not that it would make any difference, because it won't.

Answer 2

it is when the earth lines up with the galactic equator (a imaginary line that runs down the galaxy creating two lobes or hemespheres) .It is believed by some that in the center of the galaxy there is a black hole ,and that it is spinning so fast all it gravity is concentrated on this Imaginary line and that that causes disasters when the earth cross`s over .Also i heard theories that the other side of the Galactic equator has a different magnetic charge that will trigger a pole shift ending most of life on earth .I don`t beleive these doomsday theories .It is true the mayan calender was designed by this cycle and it confuses the devil outta me, how they knew astronomy so well to predict it so accurately.It is also worth noteing that 2012 is also when the earth completes its preccesional wobble , it only happens every 25,800 years. These are both rare events ,and its cool it is going to happen in our lifetime .But withing a week of it happening it will be forgotten ,except for a few hardcore nerds that will be bragging to there grandkids(who could care less) about it

Answer 3

This is a non-event which the 2012 doom-mongers are getting excited about. The stars of the Milky Way form a band of light all around the sky. As the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun appears to circle the sky once a year, in a circle inclined at about 60 degrees to the Milky Way. It therefore follows that the Sun will appear to cross the Milky Way, as seen from Earth, twice a year. This happens near the solstices every June and December. Because this happens on December 21st 2012, coincident with the end of a cycle of the Mayan calendar, the cranks seem to think some disaster will take place. They overlook the fact that the same 'alignment' takes place every year without anybody even noticing.

Some of the cranks, with their ignorance of astronomy, get even more confused and talk about the solar system crossing the physical central plane of the galaxy. This is something completely different and won't happen for another 30 million years or so. The notion that it can be tied down to a particular date is total nonsense.

Answer 4

It's a rare event when all the stars in the galaxy just happen to be in a part of their orbits that is on the same side of the galactic nucleus. Then the galaxy "tips over" and falls into a big black hole. And that's the end!

Answer 5

There is either no such thing, or it is always in place, depending on how you look at it.  If you mean the Earth aligning with the Galactic center, it always does, in fact, it has to.  The Solar system is in orbit around the Galaxy, therefor, on a plan, you can always draw a straight line between Earth, and the center.  Actually, the same applies to ANY two points anywhere in the whole Universe.  If you mean all the possibly 400 billion or so stars in the Galaxy aligning, that ain't never going to happen!