Maya calendar 2020: Is June 21 the end of the world?

Conspiracy theorists had claimed the dates of the Maya calendar had been misinterpreted, and that the end of the world will actually be today. Back in 2012, the internet was awash with claims that the Maya calendar was set to end on December 21. That date came and went without the apocalypse, leaving many doomsdayers red faced, or relieved depending on your viewpoint.

However, some conspiracy theorists claim the Maya calendar was misinterpreted, and that the end of the world comes today, June 21.

The claims came about following a tweet from self proclaimed scientist Paolo Tagaloguin, who explained his theory on Twitter.

He said: “Following the Julian Calendar, we are technically in 2012… The number of days lost in a year due to the shift into Gregorian Calendar is 11 days… For 268 years using the Gregorian Calendar (1752-2020) times 11 days = 2,948 days. 2,948 days / 365 days (per year) = 8 years.”

This takes the apparent end of the world from December 21, 2012, to June 21, 2020.

But astronomers have rubbished the claims, stating that like all the other end of the world predictions, this one will come and go too.

According to astronomy website Time and Date Time: “The end of the world is near—again! For centuries, doomsdayers have prophesied the apocalypse.

“But there’s a tiny catch: None of the end-of-world predictions ever come true.”

Other astronomers have also dismissed the claim, stating that the maths and new interpretation simply does not add up.

Astronomer Phil Plait explained on SyFy: “The Gregorian calendar does not lose 11 days per year! Basically, the Julian calendar, which was widely used a long time ago, didn’t account for leap years very well, so hundreds of years ago countries started switching to the Gregorian calendar, which does a better job (though it’s a little complicated).

“When they did, the calendar had to jump forward a bunch of days to compensate for days missed— usually about 10 or 11 days — but it was only done once.

“Not every year. So the claim that somehow 8 years have been skipped is wrong.

“Second, that doesn’t matter anyway, because the 21 December 2012 date was converted from the Maya calendar to the Gregorian one in the first place.

“So there’s no reason to even bring the Julian calendar into this. It doesn’t make sense.”

source: express.co.uk