The 12th Planet is a hypothetical planet proposed by ancient astronaut theorist Zecharia Sitchin. Sitchin claims Nibiru (also called Marduk) is the 12th planet, or Planet X. His claims are considered to be fantasy by mainstream scientists and historians. Hypothetical planets are planets that have been suggested as possibly existing (or have been believed to exist), but have never been proven to actually exist. ... Did aliens build the Easter Island moai? Ancient astronaut theory is a term used to describe the theories of ancient extraterrestrial contact being involved, in some way the origin or development of human culture. ... Zecharia Sitchin is a best-selling author promoting the ancient astronaut theory of mankinds origins. ... The Sumerian culture describes, according to some sources, a planet Nibiru (or Marduk) being the twelfth planet. ... Planet X is a large hypothetical planet orbiting beyond the orbit of Neptune. ... This article is about the profession. ... A historian is a person who studies history. ...

According to James Evans in The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy, Hugh Thurston in Early Astronomy, and Gale Christianson in This Wild Abyss, Babylonian astronomers used the names Marduk and Nibriu-Marduk to refer to the planet Jupiter.

According to Sitchin's theories of Sumerian cosmology, Nibiru was the twelfth member in the solar system family of planets (which includes 10 planets, the Sun, and the Moon). Its catastrophic collision with Tiamat, a planet that was between Mars and Jupiter, would have formed the planet Earth and the asteroid belt and comets. It was the home of a powerful alien race Anunnaki (Ningischzida) of Sumerian myth, who, Sitchin claims, survived and later came to Earth. By ancient tradition, the Sun is the light in the heavens whose presence is day and whose absence is night. ... Crust composition Oxygen 43% Silicon 21% Aluminium 10% Calcium 9% Iron 9% Magnesium 5% Titanium 2% Nickel 0. ... Catastrophism is the theory that Earth has been affected by sudden, short-lived, violent events that were sometimes worldwide in scope. ... Tiamat is a primeval goddess in Babylonian and Sumerian mythology, and a central figure in the Enûma Elish creation epic. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third-closest planet to the Sun. ... Image of the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. ... Photo of the comet Hale-Bopp above a tree. ... Ancient Sumerian seal depicting the Annunaki The Anunnaki or Anunnaku are a group of Sumerian mythological and Akkadian deities related to, and in some cases overlapping with, the Annuna (the Fifty Great Gods) and the Igigi (minor gods). ... Chaldean mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian mythologies, although Chaldea did not comprehend the whole territory inhabited by those peoples. ...

Sitchin says some sources speak about the same planet, possibly being a brown dwarf star and still in a highly elliptic orbit around the Sun, with a perihelion passage some 3,600 years ago and assumed orbital period of about 3,600 to 3,760 years or 3,741 years. However, scientists argue that a planet with such an orbit would eventually either develop a circular orbit or fly off into space and overwhelmingly consider Sitchin's claims to be pseudoscience. Sitchin attributes these figures to astronomers of the Maya civilization. However, a brown dwarf with a period of 3,760 years would be clearly evident through infrared and gravitational observations. Brown dwarfs are sub-stellar objects (~5 to 90 Jupiter masses) that do not fuse hydrogen into helium in their cores, as do stars on the main sequence, but have fully convective surfaces and interiors, with no chemical differentiation by depth. ... In astrodynamics or celestial mechanics a elliptic orbit is an orbit with the eccentricity greater than 0 and less than 1. ... This article is about several astronomical terms (apogee & perigee, aphelion & perihelion, generic equivalents based on apsis, and related but rarer terms. ... A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ... The orbital period is the time it takes a planet (or another object) to make one full orbit. ... Phrenology is seen today as a classic example of pseudoscience. ... The Maya are people of southern Mexico and northern Central America (Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and El Salvador) with some 3,000 years of history. ...

In a recently published book, titled 2012: Appointment With Marduk, Turkish writer/researcher Burak Eldem presents a new theory, suggesting a 3,661 years orbital period for the planet and claiming a "return date" in the year 2012 AD. According to Eldem's theory, 3,661 is one-seventh of 25,627, which is the total time span of "5 World Ages" according to Mayan Long Count Calendar system. The last orbital passage of Marduk, he adds, was in 1649 BC and caused great catastrophes on earth, including the Thera eruption. 2012: Appointment With Marduk is Turkish writer/researcher Burak Eldems best-selling book (Istanbul, 2003) on hypothetical Planet X and Mayan End Date 2012. ... Burak Eldem is a Turkish writer/researcher and journalist. ... 2012 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Maya Long Count Calendar is a subset of the Maya calendar used by the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization. ... View from the top of Thira Santorini is a small, circular group of volcanic islands located in the Aegean Sea, 75 km south-east of the Greek mainland, (latitude: 35. ...

See also

• Hypothetical planet
• Planet X
• Zecharia Sitchin
• Anunnaki
• Nibiru
• Nibiru (myth)
• Tiamat
• Ningischzida
• asteroid belt
• Sumerian mythology
• Robert Sutton Harrington
• Burak Eldem
• ZetaTalk

Hypothetical planets are planets that have been suggested as possibly existing (or have been believed to exist), but have never been proven to actually exist. ... Planet X is a large hypothetical planet orbiting beyond the orbit of Neptune. ... Zecharia Sitchin is a best-selling author promoting the ancient astronaut theory of mankinds origins. ... Ancient Sumerian seal depicting the Annunaki The Anunnaki or Anunnaku are a group of Sumerian mythological and Akkadian deities related to, and in some cases overlapping with, the Annuna (the Fifty Great Gods) and the Igigi (minor gods). ... The Sumerian culture describes, according to some sources, a planet Nibiru (or Marduk) being the twelfth planet. ... The best--selling writer Zecharia Sitchin has adopted Nibiru (the planet associated with Marduk) as the name for an unseen planet he suggests is in a highly elliptical orbit which causes catastrophic changes when, at long intervals, it enters the inner solar system at the aphelion of its orbit. ... Tiamat is a primeval goddess in Babylonian and Sumerian mythology, and a central figure in the Enûma Elish creation epic. ... Image of the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. ... Chaldean mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian mythologies, although Chaldea did not comprehend the whole territory inhabited by those peoples. ... Robert Sutton Harrington (October 21, 1942 – January 23, 1993) was an American astronomer who worked at US Naval Observatory. ... Burak Eldem is a Turkish writer/researcher and journalist. ... ZetaTalk is a small Internet cult that was started in the 1990s by Nancy Lieder, who claimed to channel messages from aliens called the Zetas through an implant in her brain. ...

External links

• "2012: Appointment With Marduk." Official site for Turkish writer/researcher Burak Eldem's 2003 book.
• Planet X in Bible Prophecy Official site for writer/researcher Tim McHyde's 2005 book.
• Time line of research regarding the 'Search for Planet X'
• Planet X -- Nibiru facts. Xfacts.com.
• Nibiru. Crystalinks.com.
• Nibiru and the Anunnaki. Conspiracy Planet.com.
• The Anunnaki Remnants Are Still on Earth. Conspiracy Planet.com.
• [1]. Astronomical Society in Mexico City
• Index of skeptical writings on Sitchin's theories
• Sitchin's Twelfth Planet - a highly critical essay