Nibiru cataclysm

A modern doomsday claim that a hidden planet called Nibiru will collide with or pass catastrophically close to Earth. Astronomical observations have found no evidence for such a planet or predicted encounter.

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Zecharia Sitchin: Azerbaijani-born author who proposed speculative translations of ancient Mesopotamian texts and popularized the planet Nibiru as an alien world. His books supplied the hidden-planet story later recast as a prediction of catastrophe.
Planetary orbit: The path a planet follows around a star under gravity and its initial motion. A hidden planet approaching Earth would have to follow an orbit consistent with its claimed arrival.
Planet Nine: A hypothesized distant planet proposed to explain patterns in the orbits of some trans-Neptunian objects. Unlike Nibiru, Planet Nine is a testable scientific hypothesis with no claimed imminent passage near Earth.
Conspiracy theory: An explanation that attributes events to secret coordination by powerful actors, often without adequate evidence. Nibiru narratives commonly allege that authorities conceal the planet and its approach.
Nibiru: A name in Mesopotamian astronomy associated with a celestial body or position linked to the god Marduk. Sitchin transformed this ancient term into the name of a planet on a dangerous orbit.
Gravitational perturbation: A change in an object's motion caused by the gravitational influence of other bodies. A massive nearby Nibiru would measurably disturb the orbits of planets and spacecraft.
Nemesis (hypothetical star): A proposed companion star to the Sun once hypothesized to disturb the distant reservoir of comets. Nemesis was a scientific conjecture about a distant companion, not the hidden incoming planet described by Nibiru claims.
Misinformation: False or inaccurate information shared without necessarily intending to deceive. Online Nibiru predictions repeatedly circulated false claims about observations and impending impacts.
Sumerian language: The language of ancient Sumer, preserved in cuneiform texts from southern Mesopotamia. Claims about Nibiru rely on interpretations of Sumerian and related Mesopotamian writing.
Orbital resonance: A relationship between orbiting bodies whose orbital periods form a ratio of small whole numbers. A recurring close approach would leave characteristic dynamical effects in the Solar System.