The Milky Way, our ‘home’ Galaxy is a Barred Spiral Galaxy approximately 100,000-120,000 light years in diameter. It is speculated to be about 13.2 billion years old. The Earth and our Solar System are located on one of the spiral arms about two thirds of the way outward from the Galactic Center. The Galaxy contains possibly 100 billion stars arranged along the barred spiral arms. A large cluster of stars are organized from about 10,000 light years out and surrounding the Galaxy Center creating a large and brighter ‘bulge’ from which the spiral arms emanate. This bulge is roughly 25,000 light years across. These inner stars revolve around the Galactic Center at a faster rate than do the stars on the outer spiral arms. At the true Galactic Centre is a very bright and intense radio source known as Sagittarius A. This is believed to be a super massive black hole.
The Galactic Center of our Milky Way Galaxy is approximately 26,000-27,000 light years away from Earth. All the asteroids and comets; interstellar debris, dust and gases; planets and stars contained in the spirally arms of the Galaxy orbit around its central massive black hole core. The Galactic Centre produces a profound gravitational pull so powerful that from many thousands of light years away all matter is attracted to it. Our Sun and Solar System revolve around the Galactic Centre at 135 miles per second or 486,000 miles per hour. It takes our Earth and the Solar System we are part of approximately 226-250 million years to make a single rotation around the central Galactic Center.
From our position here on Earth, the Milky Way Galaxy is clearly visible stretching across the night sky. It is not a particularly bright Galaxy so appears quite dim or easily obscured by city lights but is profoundly beautiful and prominent when witnessed from a completely cloudless and dark sky. The Galaxy appears as a ‘milky’ band that stretches completely across the sky, touching about 30 constellations and can be seen from all around the Earth in both Hemispheres. But what is observed in Southern Hemisphere skies differs from the view in the Northern Hemisphere, it is brighter! This is because the Earth and our Solar System revolve within one of the spiralling arms. So at times we are looking outward at the more distant galactic spiralling arm and other times inward at the inner bulge of stars surrounding the Galactic Center.
The Galactic Center and inner bulge plus much of the inner spiral arms appear dim or are almost completely obscured in places by great dark regions that parallel the band of the Galaxy. These are massive nearly opaque clouds of interstellar dust known as the ‘Great Rift’ and ‘Coal Sack’. These great dust clouds and many more unseen ones hidden by the blackness of space also rotate and swirl between and within the Galaxy’s spiral arms. Because of Earth’s placement within its spiral arm, we look through these black clouds that significantly obscure much of the inner Galaxy bulge and especially the Galactic Center. Were these dust clouds not there, our Milky Way Galaxy would be quite profoundly brighter; enough so to illuminate our night sky.
Because our Solar System is also revolving around the Galaxy, from our vantage point on the Earth, the Galactic Center appears to slowly drift through the constellations. Throughout ‘modern’ astronomical history, the Galactic Center has appeared in the constellation Sagittarius. The Sun’s orbit through the celestial zodiac passes near the Galactic Centre each year around 21-22 December. But our Sun seldom ever aligns ‘exactly’ with the true Galactic Centre. Each year the closest approach to the Galactic Centre in our orbit drifts, slightly. For example in 1900 the closest approach to Galactic Centre appeared to be Sagittarius 25 degrees 28minutes. By 1950 this had shifted to 26 degrees 10 minutes and reached 26 degrees 52 minutes by 2000. At its present position, Galactic Centre is almost exactly at 27 degrees Sagittarius (Tropical Zodiac) and 6 degrees Sagittarius (Sidereal Zodiac), which is the ‘true’ centre of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Within the spiral arms of the Milky Way are many Interstellar Star Communities. These are groups of solar systems and stars that revolve around each other in massive groups. These star systems revolve around each other in a very similar way that the Earth and Planets revolve around our Sun. Within our Interstellar Star Group, the Central Sun is the star Alycone, the brightest star in the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) Constellation. Our Sun and Solar System along with at least eight other Suns revolve around Central Sun Alycone on an approximate 26,000 year cycle. This Central Sun and all its Interstellar Star Group also revolves around the Greater Central Sun, Sirius, the Dog Star, brightest star in our skies. And all of these revolving Interstellar Star Groups collectively revolve around increasingly larger star systems, which collectively include six orbital cycles, all synchronized, that all revolve around the Galactic Center!
One complete revolution around the Milky Way Galaxy is known as the Great Cycle Orbit or one Galactic Year. Since the advancement of Hubble Telescope, scientific estimates suggest that one Great Cycle Orbit takes 226-250 million years; most likely the shorter time span. It is estimated that there may have been 59 Great Cycle Orbits since the beginning of the Milky Way Galaxy and perhaps as many as 20-30 since Earth’s development within our Solar System. The beginning of each Great Cycle Orbit starts a New Era. Each Minor Cycle Orbit of our Sun as it rotates through each quadrant around Star Alcyone takes approximately 2,166-2,255 years and signifies the beginning of a new Epoch. Major Longer Cycle Orbits (Periods) occur at the four corners of the Great Cycle Orbit around the Galaxy revolution and these happen at approximately every 51.3 to 56.5 million years. These Periods vary somewhat as the larger orbital cycles are somewhat elliptical.
Because all the six cycles are basically synchronized, right now the last of these revolving cycles have been completed at generally the same moment in time (within less than one hundred years of each other). So now a new Great Cycle Orbit (Era) begins: Great Orbital Cycle 31. Actually, the first one of these important cycles started afresh in 1937 and several around 1975. Another cycle completed with the alignment of our Sun, Moon in Annular Eclipse and in alignment with The Pleiades and the Galactic Center in May 2012. This leads up to the completion of the final 5,125 year synchronization of cycles which occurs with the great alignment of our Sun with Central Sun Alcyone, Greater Central Sun, Sirius and the true Galactic Centre. This occurs with the Summer/Winter Solstice 21-22 December, 2012.
While our Sun and Solar System annually generally align and pass the Galactic Center on 21-22 December each year, periodically at approximately a 26,000 year interval our Sun and Solar System align exactly with the Galactic Centre of the Milky Way Galaxy and also with the Central Sun Alycone and Greater Central Sun, Sirius. Since ancient times, such alignments have been considered as profoundly significant celestial milestones that measure the beginning and end of Great Ages. Or as the Mayan calendar suggest, the ‘end and beginning of time’. At the very least this astronomical moment ends and begins a new cycle.
That profound moment in time happens this month. In reality such moments are truly difficult to accurately measure. Traditionally the moment of the Solstice 21-22 December is used as the celestial moment of alignment. This is the day when the Sun reaches its farthest declination south in the Southern Hemisphere ushering in true celestial Summer. While the Moon reaches its farthest declination north in the Northern Hemisphere signifying the celestial beginning of Winter. While in the astrological ‘Tropical’ Zodiac the Sun actually conjuncts the 27 degree Sagittarius, Galactic Center, 19 December around 12AM New Zealand Daylight Time/11AM UTC(GMT). While in Sidereal Zodiac Time this event occurs about 24 days later!
Being such a nebulous event attempting to correlate nearly infinite unquantifiable universal variables over vast cosmic distances, the exactly timing of such a profound alignment is beyond the scope of normal human comprehension. To further confuse the issue, the highly inaccurate manipulation of the standard Gregorian Calendar makes it even more doubtful about what actual day is the most likely one to mark this momentous transition in time between the end of the Piscean Age and official beginning of the Aquarian Age.
Whatever time frame one chooses to observe this profound alignment, it will most likely remain unseen as anything ‘unusual’ from our vantage point here on the Earth. Most of the visible alignments of the Planets within our Solar System in the lead up to the end of this Great Cycle Orbit have been occurring over the past many months. They appear as sometimes dramatic conjunctions, seen in our morning and evening skies. These planetary alignments create bright star-like patterns that shift each day in the evening and/or morning sky as various Planets and stars line up in their orbits against the Moon and background of our Sun.
Media stories and a multitude of speculators have supposed a wide variety of dramatic and sometimes cataclysmic outcomes that might result from this rare interstellar alignment. These range from the reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles; a change in the Earth’s orbit or direction of its rotation; a spectacular array of dramatic events including: devastating earthquakes, towering tsunamis, powerful volcanic eruptions, profound climate change; bombardment by asteroids and meteors; increased exposure to cosmic radiation; the ‘end of time’; destruction of civilization as we know it thus the end of Humankind; mass extinctions, just to mention a few scenarios.
Even very credible Scientists and Researchers like Physicist Richard Muller, Adrian Melott and Mikhail Medvedev have contributed to the speculation. Amongst the most credible and interesting is a theory put forward by Researchers at the University of Kansas who combined their knowledge with Scientists from the University of California. Berkley. Their findings were first scientifically published in 2005 to July 2007 entitled ‘Galactic Drift and Mass Extinction’ and reappeared in June 2010 as a major feature story in The Daily Galaxy.
Using a sophisticated Radio Telescope much more powerful than Hubble Telescope, they have determined that our Milky Way Galaxy is pushing or being drawn toward the Virgo Star system cluster of galaxies. As it moves toward the Virgo system at a remarkable speed, the Milky Way Galaxy is created a ‘galactic bow shock’ on the northern side of the Galaxy facing the Virgo Cluster. This galactic bow shock creates super-heated gases and cosmic radiation ahead of itself that stream in a great trail behind the Galaxy. Much like a jet does when it breaks the sound barrier.
As the Galaxy sweeps forward, it continues its internal cyclical revolutions. This creates an internal ‘wobble’ in our Solar System’s orbit. So approximately every 64 million years our Solar System’s orbit takes it to this active and vulnerable northern end of the Milky Way. Then the somewhat eccentric orbital variations within these rotational cycles, takes our Solar System on a cyclical ‘wobble’ above the Galactic Plane. Suddenly the Earth is exposed to much higher levels of cosmic radiation producing major changes in the atmosphere and on the Earth’s surface including profound climate changes. This results in mass extinctions, higher levels of genetic mutation leading to evolution of new species and creates increased biodiversity. These Physicists theorize that this explains why there are periodic mass extinctions in cycles of roughly 62-64 million years that usher in profound if not cataclysmic changes in life on Earth, including the famous mass extinction of the Dinosaurs. There is the suggestion that such an orbital interval may lie ahead.
On the brighter side others expect that this upcoming Great Cycle Orbital Alignment will witness the return of Jesus and other Prophets and Saviours who will transform the Planet; or an uplifting of global consciousness that will see the ideals espoused by the finest leaders and prophets fill our consciousness and transform our societies into a much more advance state of evolution. Many hope that this Great Cycle Orbit will bring the true beginning of the Aquarian Age of Enlightenment when Humankind will transcend their barbaric and selfish ways and becomes much more compassionate, selfless, understanding and universally committed and dedicated to uplifting life on this Planet.
Being a very hopeful and positive person, I would prefer to elect the return of an Age of Enlightenment and a universal uplifting of the over-all Human Consciousness. I would settle for Humankind finally realizing that returning to a sophisticated agricultural and garden-devoted lifestyle would be a most logical and practical way of ‘greening’ the Planet, uplifting our quality of life and perhaps even stabilizing climate change. Should it be any of the other less favourable outcomes, most likely none of us will remain alive to mourn our collective loss.
But in reality, this profound and rare astronomical alignment will most likely come and go about as dramatically as does New Years Eve. All its artificial hype and revelry, New Year’s resolutions and promises are followed by the reality of New Years Day and getting on with picking up the pieces of the previous evening and starting a brand new day in a ‘New Year’ that looks remarkably the same as the old one.
In any case, that magnificent moment made famous by the ancient Mayan calendar, folklore legends; media desperate for a catchy story, and prophetic soothsayer speculation desperate for better times ahead or a karmic and merciful end to our world’s misery, is upon us. If one must speculate about an immediate outcome, most likely this dramatic moment will be every bit as profound as the panic surrounding the first day of the New Millennium: the ‘Y2K World Crisis’.
But when viewed over the long-term, the start of a new Great Cycle Orbit, a New Galactic Year, a New Era for Humanity and our World is potentially so profound that it has been described as, “The Biggest Evolutionary Event in the history of Mankind”, Abundant Hope.net.
Happy ‘End of the World’ to one and all, and may our collective ‘new beginning’ brilliantly and magically rise like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes of yesteryear and dawn as a much brighter, happy, peaceful and productive New Day moving all of us forward into a better and ‘greener’ future.