Known as the Nibiru cataclysm, it is a doomsday scenario in which a large mysterious planet comes crashing into the Earth.
It was first proposed in 1995 to happen at some point in the early 21st century.
As we get well into this century many claim it is nothing but speculation and misunderstanding — and who even knows if Planet X, the ninth planet in the Solar System, even exists.
This hasn’t stopped its proponents from voicing their concerns, however, and each year, people gather to predict the end of the world as a result of Nibiru.
Scientists are generally uniform in their conclusion that no such disastrous encounter will occur. But one physicist previously conceded that there was a “small” chance that it could happen.
Also known as Planet Nine, Nibiru is said to be mentioned on ancient Sumerian clay tablets.
Legend has it that it crashed through the early Solar System and created the asteroid belt and the Earth before vanishing again.
Robert Matthews, a visiting physics professor of science at Aston University, wrote a succinct yet telling analysis of the Nibiru fears back in 2018.
Writing in BBC Science Focus magazine, he said: “It’s true that beyond the Solar System lurk failed stars known as brown dwarfs that are barely bigger than the planet Jupiter. However, the chances of a disastrous encounter with one are mercifully small.”
Nancy Lieder, an author, first came up with the idea that Nibiru would crash into the Earth after she claimed to have been contacted by aliens in 1995.
She and her followers said the end would come in 2003. When this failed, the date was rescheduled several times, including June 21, 2020. All of the dates have come and gone without note.
Proponents of the theory have attached Nibiru to the Maya calendar which is said to have ended on December 21, 2012, a date in which, again, nothing happened.
Dr John Carlson, director of the Centre for Archaeoastronomy in the US rubbished claims the world would end after the fact some years ago.
He said: “The Maya calendar did not end on December 21, 2012, and there were no Maya prophecies foretelling the end of the world on that date.”
NASA Astrobiologist David Morrison also debunked the idea of Niburu, otherwise known as Planet X.
He said: “If there were anything out there like a planet headed for Earth.
“It would already be [one of the] brightest objects in the sky. Everybody on Earth could see it. You don’t need to ask the government, just go out and look. It’s not there.”
He added the Mayan calendar predicted the world would begin anew, not end as “an enigmatic deity named Bolon Yokte’ K’uh” would “set space and time in order” and “regenerate the cosmos”.