NASA has rebutted various myths relating to the alleged apocalypse awaiting the Earth on Dec. 21, 2012, advising people to "sleep well" on that date.

Simply put, there is no scientific basis for claims the world will end on Dec. 21 of next year, according to astronomer Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

As part of the von Karman Lecture Series in Pasadena on Thursday, Yeomans offered explanations of different phenomena pertaining to the alleged apocalypse next year.

On one of the ancient Mayan calendars, Yeomans said, the Maya measured time in long periods, and one of these periods will end on Dec. 21, 2012.

"Of course, a new calendar would start on Dec. 22. It would be like saying that our calendar ends Dec. 31, [so] that's the end of time, the end of days, that's it, no regard for how a new cycle would begin. The Maya never predicted the end of the world occurred at that time," Yeomans said.

Another concern is the sun's crossing in front of the plane of our galaxy on Dec. 21, but Yeomans said the sun routinely does this twice a year without fanfare.

Concerning solar storms, which come and go in cycles 11 years long, Yeomans noted, "There is no evidence that one will happen on Dec. 21 next year."

However, solar storms do happen and can cause damage to satellites and power lines, but they do not cause lasting damage, he said, adding that it is not possible to predict solar activity that far out -- and even an extremely strong solar storm would not bring the world to its end, as some fear.

Regarding the belief that the Earth's poles will flip in 2012, Yeomans explained that the Earth's two kinds of poles -- the geographical poles, associated with the planet's axis of rotation, and the magnetic poles, marking the planet's magnetic field -- are not likely to cause an apocalypse.

The geographical poles cannot flip because the moon stabilizes the Earth's spin. In contrast, magnetic poles do flip sometimes, but on time scales of about 500,000 years. These shifts happen gradually over thousands of years, "and there's no evidence of a flip on Dec. 21, 2012," Yeomans said.

"Even if it did flip, it would not cause any real problems, other than us having to change our compasses from north to south," he added.

Many people are concerned about Dec. 21, 2012, even without any scientific basis, thus, Yeomans said: "Scientists really have their work cut out for them. We really have to do a better job educating people about science."