The Mayans, Coronal Mass Ejection and the End of the World as We Know It.

Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth.

According to Mayan prophecy the year 2012 has a special significance.  In June of 2012 one of the rarest astronomical events occurred. Venus passed directly between the Sun and Earth heralding,  on December 21, 2012, "the end" and the return of the “feathered snake God” Kukulcan. The question on the minds of many: “The end of what?” The world and/or all of mankind?  Elders, Mayan and Hopi, believe the "end" is  not necessarily the end of the world but rather the end of an era – a transformation. The elders  explanation doesn't offer much clarification.  Is it a physical transformation, a spiritual transformation or perhaps both?  Mainstream scholars have not “bought into” the prognostications put forth by the Mayans and others - but what do mainstream scholars have to say about current known threats to planet earth?

X-class solar flare 10/22/12 from NASA

According to scientists who study the star's activity our sun is currently in Solar Cycle 24 and it is expected to last through 2013. Powerful solar flares release waves of radiation into space and can release bubbles of "charged plasma", Coronal Mass Ejections said to travel at millions of miles per hour, which can cause geomagnetic storms that disrupt radio communication, power grids and cause unusual displays of northern and southern "lights". According to Planetsave, “A powerful X-Class solar flare exploded from the Sun on Monday, October 22, 2012. It released large amounts of radiation, some of which has already caused a minor radio blackout here on Earth.”. It seems that disruptions are not widely reported – you have to search for them.  One wonders  “Why?” as this seems to be a "news worthy" event - more so than the latest exploits of the Kardashian girls.

The largest known solar flare was produced by a powerful solar storm known as the Carrington event. It occurred in 1859 during Solar Cycle 10.  The solar flare caused a major “CME” and a magnetic storm that struck earth. The geomagnetic disturbances were strong enough to cause the failure of telegraph systems all over Europe and North America. USA telegraph operators reported sparks leaping from their equipment and some bursting into flames. Northern lights, some bright enough to read by, were reported as far south as Cuba and Honolulu, while southern lights were seen as far north as Santiago, Chile. 

CME from a class C3 solar flare on August 2012.

According to a 2009 report funded by NASA: “They found that almost nothing is immune from space weather—not even the water in your bathroom.”  "A contemporary repetition of the Carrington Event would cause … extensive social and economic disruptions," the report warns. Power outages would be accompanied by radio blackouts and satellite malfunctions; telecommunications, GPS navigation, banking and finance, and transportation would all be affected. Some problems would correct themselves with the fading of the storm: radio and GPS transmissions could come back online fairly quickly. Other problems would be lasting: a burnt-out multi-ton transformer, for instance, can take weeks or months to repair. The total economic impact in the first year alone could reach $2 trillion, some 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina or, to use a timelier example, a few TARPs." 

Vulnerable transformers. Credit: National Academy of Sciences. 

In 1859 the loss of the ability to send or receive telegraph messages was an inconvenience to some folks but life went on without any major changes or  disruptions.  How would we fare today? The problem begins with our electric power grids and the fact that we are "hooked up" to that grid.  This incredibly complex system is interconnected throughout North America.  Plasma balls exploding from the Sun's surface could blow out giant transformers. A “tripped” circuit causing a black out is one thing but what happens when solar particles cause power surges that destroy multiple, massive transformers throughout our planet? These transformers can take a long time to replace, especially if hundreds are destroyed at once.

Holmes comet from Telescope on Mauna Kea.

 “What does this have to do with Kukulcan and the Mayan’s predictions?”  December 21, 2012 is the date on the Mayan calendar that marks the end of the long cycle. According to the elders it does not mean that a transformation will occur on that exact day. The elders say that the changes or transformation to our planet and consciousness will occur within a seven year period of time  around 2012. Solar cycle 24 began January 8, 2008. NASA predicts that it will peak in early or mid 2013.  According to the Hopi elders " When the Blue Star makes its appearance in the heavens, the Fifth World will emerge." According to SpaceWeather.com  on "October 24, 2007 the comet 17P/Holmes shocked astronomers with a spectacular eruption.   In less than 24 hours, the 17th magnitude comet brightened by a factor of nearly a million, becoming a naked-eye object in the evening sky. By mid-November the expanding comet was the largest object in the solar system - bigger even than the Sun."

Transformer fire resulting from CME March 1989.

According to NASA, "On March 13, 1989 the entire province of Quebec, Canada suffered an electrical power blackout. Hundreds of blackouts occur in some part of North America every year. The Quebec Blackout was different, because this one was caused by a solar storm!"  Could a catastrophic disruption of our power grid be the "trigger" that brings about  the transformation that the Mayan and Hopi elders prophesied?    Our world as we know it would come to an end. Our lives would be different in ways that we never thought possible. No more instant communication via cell, Internet and social media. Things we take for granted today - electricity, natural gas, air conditioning, ATMs, trips to the grocery store to purchase food, micro wave popcorn, cold beer, water and sewage treatment plants etc would be gone. A major change to life as we know it - a transformation that we would assume/hope would be temporary. But what happens when a massive solar storm destroys multiple transformers in our power grid? According to the office of emergency response at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recovery could take as much as a decade - wreaking havoc with the USA and world infrastructure and economy. “This is not science fiction. It is fact,” says Joe McClelland, director of the office of emergency response at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission . He says it has happened before but with far less severe economic consequences. It is likely to happen again and, according to space scientists, it could happen in the next few years, as a period of unusually calm solar weather reverses, picks up energy, and gets nasty.

Nuclear power plant reactor building 4.

The loss of electricity is the most obvious effect resulting from a power grid outage - there are also secondary effects - nuclear power plants pose the greatest potential for causing a catastrophic event that could forever change our lives and the planet. The fuel elements of a nuclear reactor have a cooling system to prevent them from over heating and "melting down". Back up power sources insure that power will be available to power cooling and other systems in case of a black out. In the event of a meltdown there is a possibility of a containment breach that could cause radioactive materials to be dispersed resulting in radioactive fallout and contamination of everything in the dispersal area. There have been a number of nuclear accidents around the world. The 1986 Chernobyl accident is considered one of the worst. For 10 days radioactive substances were released into the air.  In March 2011 an earthquake followed by a tsunami resulted in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear disaster. The reactor's emergency generators kicked in to maintain control of electrical and cooling systems but the tsunami caused flooding and the electrical generators where rendered inoperable. When a reactor is shut down the "decay heat" continues for hours and sometimes days - during this time the cooling system must be in full operation to prevent meltdown. Recent reports concluded that the Fukushima meltdown was not caused by the earthquake and tsunami but resulted from human error. What ever the cause the fact is that radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere and the sea.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) there are 65 commercially operated nuclear power plants with 104 nuclear reactors in 31 states around the country. Thirty-six of the plants have two or more reactors.   Benjamin K. Sovakool reports that there has been 99 nuclear accidents from 1952 to 2009.  All of the nuclear power plants have redundant safe guards and back up power systems. The probability of  an incident leading to a core melt down is statistically very small. Not a very comforting fact if you  were one of the 350,000 people who were evacuated or one of the 4,000 plus people who had died as a result of the Chernobyl melt down. Nor is it a comforting fact when you think about the Carrington event and how the solar storm caused power surges in telegraph equipment - causing some of them to burst into flames. The 1989 solar storm that fried transformers in Quebec clearly reflects their destructive power and the possibility that Solar Cycle 24  could unleash CMEs that are capable of triggering the catastrophic event - bringing about the end of our "modern day" world.

Kukulcan also appeared in human form.

From one day to the next our priorities would change. It wouldn't matter how much money we had in the bank or how many electronic gadgets we own. We would have to adapt in order to survive. Could this be the impetus that would bring about a spiritual transformation? People coming together, sharing knowledge, resources and helping each other. As to the return of  Kukulcan - the feathered snake God- he also had a human form that looked nothing like the dark complected Mayans. Mayan sculptures and writings depict him as a tall, blue eyed Caucasian man with long white hair and skin. He promised to return as he had left - from the east over the ocean.