Innumerable reports have been doing rounds of the media regarding the end of the world, supposed to occur on December 21 this year. Top NASA officials, however, have dismissed reports about the end-of-the-world rumours. "Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, Dec. 21, 2012 won''t be the end of the world as we know it, however, it will be another winter solstice," Mashable quoted NASA as writing in a Google+ post.
Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring

To dispel these end-of-the-world rumours, NASA hosted a Google Hangout with a cadre of top scientists in relevant fields, including astrobiology and astronomy. The panelists included astrobiologist David Morrison, asteroid scientist Don Yeomans, solar/archaeoastronomer Mitzi Adams, heliophysicist Lika Guhathakurta, astrophysicist Paul Hertz, and Andrew Fraknoi, science educator from Foothill College in California -ANI
Photo Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring