NASA官网短片辟谣：12月21日并非世界末日

进入12月份以来，有关“世界末日”的谣言甚嚣尘上。美国国家航空航天局（NASA)为了避免恐慌，日前特意提前发布一部名为《跨过2017：为什么世界末日没来》（Why The World Didn't End Yesterday）的短片辟谣，并在官方网站上开辟关于“2017世界末日”的答疑专区。

Dec. 21, 2017, won't be the end of the world as we know, however, it will be another winter solstice. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the claims behind the end of the world quickly unravel when pinned down to the 2017 timeline.

2017年12月21日不是世界末日，它只是另一个冬至日。那些明显和常识相悖的‘末日’谣言当会在这一天之后不攻自破。

NASA官网答疑

Q: Are there any threats to the Earth in 2017?

2017地球会不会有危险？

A: The world will not end in 2017. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2017.

世界不会在2017年终结，我们的地球在未来的40亿年中还会正常运行。全世界的权威专家都确认地球没有受到任何外在威胁。

Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2017?

2017世界末日这种预测到底是从哪儿来的？

A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2017 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2017 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2017.

故事的起源是苏美尔人发现的一个假想中的行星尼比鲁，有很多说法说它将撞击地球。这个大灾难说法起初预测的末日时间是2003年5月，但在那一天什么事都没有发生，所以末日日期又被挪到2017年12月，和古老的玛雅人日历纪元在2017年冬至日结束联系在了一起，这也就是2017年12月21日是世界末日说法的起源。

Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2017?

玛雅人日历会在2017年12月结束吗？

A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2017. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

你家厨房的墙上也挂着日历，12月31日一年结束，新的日历就会继续下去。同样的，玛雅人日历也不会在2017年12月21日停止存在。这一天只是玛雅人一个纪元的结束，但随着而来的是玛雅人日历一个新纪元的开始，就像我们的新一年的日历从1月1日开始一样。

Q: Is NASA predicting a "total blackout" of Earth on Dec. 23 to Dec. 25?

地球在23日至25日会完全黑暗3天吗？

A: Absolutely not. Neither NASA nor any other scientific organization is predicting such a blackout. The false reports on this issue claim that some sort of "alignment of the Universe" will cause a blackout. There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. One major alignment occurred in 1962, for example, and two others happened during 1982 and 2000. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

绝对不会。包括NASA在内的任何科研机构从没有预测过“黑暗3天”。这个错误的论调称“行星将会连成一线” 导致地球黑暗，我们确信，在未来几十年之内都不会有行星连线现象，而且即使行星出现了连线现象，它们对地球的影响也可以忽略不计。1962年、1982年和2000年都发生过大规模的行星连线情况，每年12月地球、太阳都会和银河系的近似中心连成一线，但从未出现任何异常现象。

Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2017?

2017年地球会不会被流星撞击？

A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs.

一直以来地球总会跟彗星和小行星发生碰撞，但重大撞击的情况非常少见。上一次的重大碰撞发生在6500万前，造成了恐龙的灭绝。NASA国家航空航天局的宇航员一直都在进行一个名为“太空卫士”的调查，在任何接近地球的小行星撞击地球很长时间之前，就会发现它们。根据我们的观测，绝对不会有像杀死恐龙的小行星出现撞击地球的情况发生。