There are disagreements on the mechanism for "the end," most of which have some connection to astronomy: a sudden shift of Earth's axis, the reversal of our magnetic field, the passage of Earth through the galactic plane, a nearby gamma ray burst, a comet impact, and so on.

A former colleague whom I respect told me this tale a few months ago. Bunk. Oh, I was polite, listening and nodding, while the skeptic inside was anxious to escape and let go a litany against all forms of pseudoscience. I remained composed.

Phil Plait at badastronomy.com calls the prediction "goofy nonsense." Ian O'Neill at universetoday.com calls it "crazy talk." A search on both sites will reveal some fascinating commentary.

We survived Y2K and, I predict, we'll survive 2012.

We can enjoy a lot of night skies in the interim - and beyond.

The peak of the Perseid meteor shower occurs on the night of Aug. 11 and morning of Aug. 12. The gibbous moon will delay the prime viewing time until it sets about 2 a.m. After that and until dawn's twilight (about 5 a.m.), the dark sky should be ideal for catching the best of the "shooting stars."

Year in and year out, the Perseids may not be the best meteor shower, but coming during the warmest time of the year, it's the most comfortable for viewing.

If you have an unobstructed view of the western horizon, you might be able to catch a good triple planetary conjunction in mid-August. Binoculars will definitely help. Shining at magnitude minus 3.9, Venus should be easy to spot near the horizon about an hour after sunset. By 8 p.m. on Aug. 7, a dimmer Mercury (magnitude minus 1) should be visible below and to the right of Venus. By 8:30, Saturn, still dimmer at magnitude 0.8, should pop into view above and to the left of Venus.

The three planets grow closer each night during the next week. On Aug. 13, Saturn will have moved to within half a degree of Venus. The next evening, the three will be quite close with Saturn between Venus and Mercury. Saturn will soon be lost in the sun's glare, but Venus and Mercury will remain close and visible for awhile.

Mars will replace Saturn in the mix in September. On Sept. 11, a faint (magnitude 1.6) Mars will be less than one third of a degree from Venus. They should be visible low in the west-southwest a little before 8 p.m. Mercury, a bit brighter than Mars, will still be in the vicinity about 3 degrees to the left and below the duo.

Just past opposition, Jupiter remains the highlight of the evening sky. It's in Sagittarius, and throughout August and early September it's moving westward (retrograde) toward the Milky Way "cloud," numerous deep-space objects and the constellation's "teapot" asterism. Professional astronomers recently noticed a third "red spot" on the giant planet. It has joined the Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr. in the planet's complex, turbulent atmosphere.

The blue orb Neptune reaches opposition on Aug. 15, so now is the best time of the year to try to find the solar system's most distant planet. You'll need a telescope to detect the tiny, magnitude 7.8 disk in Capricorn. Look for it about 35 degrees above the southern sky around midnight.