Maybe you have seen one of the alarming videos or emails circulating around the internet claiming that the End is Nigh. The claim is that an enormous dinosaur-killer of an asteroid is going to smash into the Earth sometime between 15-28 September 2015. The scary predictions say that the asteroid will come down in the Atlantic Ocean near Puerto Rico, causing a БЂњ300ft tsunamiБЂќ and a БЂњMagnitude 12БЂќ earthquake which will lay waste to the eastern seaboards of the USA, Mexico and central and southern American nations (European nations will be devastated, specifically Spain, Holland and England, too). Thirty million lives will be lost in the month after the impact, and 40 million more are destined to die from plagues and in civil disorder in the following seven months. Is this terrifying vision of the future going to happen? Unsurprisingly the answer is absolutely no. This prediction is false.
(UPDATE: As nothing happened in September some people are now claiming that an asteroid will impact the Earth in December 2015. This new prediction is also false.)
Radar imagery of the near Earth asteroid Toutatis taken by NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar in December 2012. Thanks to studies like this the orbit of Toutatis is well understood. There is zero possibility of this asteroid hitting Earth over the entire interval over which its motion can be accurately computed, which is about the next four centuries. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
This prediction is not based on science. No known asteroid or comet is on a collision course with Earth. I am only writing about this nonsensical claim because over the years I have learned that there are people who become genuinely distressed and anxious by false predictions of disaster like this. (If you are very worried by this false story and in live in the UK, why not call AnxietyUK on 08444 775774 to discuss your concerns with a sympathetic listener? Similarly if you live in the USA, there are resources listed on the ADAA website that you may find helpful.)
The claim that this doomsday asteroid is heading our way apparently originated from one Reverend Efrain Rodriguez who has since 2010 promoted in videos and interviews his belief that this forthcoming disaster has been divinely revealed to him. Rodriguez does not claim to have discovered the asteroid or to have calculated its orbit, contending instead that its approach was supernaturally announced to him. He says
“God showed me a large rock, an Asteroid, entering the airspace of the town of Arecibo in Puerto Rico, and exiting Mayagцјez, heading to the ocean. This will be atб 2am. This rock will be making impact in the sea between the island of Mona and Mayagцјez. It will hit an active earthquake fault found in that area of the Caribbean, causing a very strong 12 point earthquake that has never been seen. 12 degrees means the Presence of God on the Earth.“
He sent NASA a letter in November 2012 outlining his bleak view of the future but received no response. I imagine it was filed under БЂњGБЂќ for Garbage.б Rodriguez says that world governments are aware of the approaching menace but are cynically going to evacuate their leaderships to safety without warning the general populace because a population reduction suits their globalist political agenda. However Rodriguez also disapprovingly says that the USA is planning to try to avert disaster:
“They are preparing spacecrafts to receive and destroy the asteroid upon arrival to Earth. Also, Obama sent about 40 missiles to PR [Puerto Rico], to try to destroy the asteroid in the sky, so that it may fall on Puerto Rico, and not at sea. The prophet of God Efrain warned them not to press the Buttons “Do No do it!” б he said. “Do Not interfere with the plans of the Lord.”
In reality, no such spacecraft or missiles exist. His belief that even attempting to save millions ofб human lives is wrong says much about Rev. Rodriguez and his theology. He seems to preach a grim gospel of despair, offering no future but misery to his congregations.
To be fair to Rodriguez, he seem to have disassociated himself from the September 2015 dates, but these are being promoted by his followers notably someone operating under the name “Light of Mary”. Rodriquez professes that the impact is definitely coming but he cannot say exactly when (except that the impact will occur at 2am and there will be a full Moon in the sky). A lunar eclipse (which is not called a “blood moon”) will be visible over the Americas and western Europe on 28 September 2015б (for more on this amazing spectacle- you should go outside and watch it- see our article The Truth About the Blood Moon Tetrad) and some disaster hoax proponents declare this to be ominous but this is, like all prophesies of doom linked to eclipses, merely superstitious nonsense.
It is significant that Rodriguez has in the past stated precise dates for his apocalypse (in 2013 and 2014) but these have passed by without incident. Rodriguez has also predicted other events, notably the death of one his critics, but none of these have happened either. Rev. Rodriguez is unsure of the disaster’s timing but is certain of its location. According to him Puerto Rico is to be devastated because of its (in his view) uniquely sinful society. In his own words:
“Puerto Rico will be the epicenter of Jehovah’s wrath. The island is polluted with sin, adulterers parade in churches, pastors just want tithes and offerings“
An artist’s depiction of the impact 65 million years ago which ended the reign of the non-avian dinosaurs. Nothing like this is predicted for the near future. (Image credit: Don Davis/NASA)
Despite his hopeless message and failed prophesies, Rodriguez has many followers worldwide who have proclaimed him to be a prophet and compare him to Noah and Abraham. Rev. Rodriguez makes no secret of his strong political opinions (he seems to intensely dislike President Obama) which are heavily featured in his proclamations. Thanks to the currently remarkably toxic and irrational political climate in the USA this has meant his views have been even more widely circulated by people who may not believe in his apocalyptic visions but want to promote his paranoid-seeming current affairs agenda.
Among many unusual declarations from Rodriguez are his support for claims that guillotines have been procured for future executions of those who criticise President Obama and that thousands of French, German, Russian and Chinese soldiers are already stationed in Puerto Rico with the intention of seizing control from the local authorities after the disaster (surely if Rodriguez is correct about the impact zone, Puerto Rico would be among the worst places to base this invasion force…) Ridiculous as these may sound, unfortunately thousands of people seem to take these seriously. Deliberately adding to the confusion were other lying emails and YouTube videos alleging that “Jade Helm“, a US military exercise scheduled for 15 July to 15 September 2015, was really a cover for disaster preparations. The military finished and packed up their gear on 15 September without incident.
The giant radio telescope at Arecibo Observatoryб in Puerto Rico has an important role in studying near Earth objects. Here are radar images ofб 2km wide asteroid 1992 UY4б made from four daysБЂ™ observation fromб Arecibo in August 2005. (Image credit: Lance Benner/Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Of course there is a very, very small chance that in the near future a dangerous impact could occur. Astronomers around the world know of 1593 Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) at the time of writing. This may sound an alarming large number but the criteria to be put on the list is very wide. PHAs are broadly defined as all asteroids 150 m (500 ft) or more in diameter which could come within 0.05 au (about 7.5 million km or 4.65 million miles) of Earth. This distance is about twenty times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.
Objects on the PHA list are monitored and the details of their orbits refined to predict the possibility of close approaches to Earth. One asteroidб on the PHA list, 2014 UR116, has been linked by some parties to Rodriguez’s false prediction. Discovered by Russian scientists, asteroidб 2014 UR1