On 23 July 2012, a massive, potentially damaging, solar storm came within nine days of striking Earth. When he later discovered this date's proximity to the end of the 13th bʼakʼtun of the Maya calendar, he revised his hypothesis so that the two dates matched. Religious leader William Miller began preaching in 1831 that the end of the world as we know it would occur with the second coming of Jesus Christ in 1843. Earth’s average surface temperature in 2023 was the warmest on record, according to an analysis by NASA.

While Betelgeuse was certainly in the final stages of its life, and would die as a supernova, there was no way to predict the timing of the event to within 100,000 years.John Verret, Professor of Advertising at Boston University, questioned the utility of tying large sums of money to such a unique and short-term event.

In reality, NASA says, anything that huge moving into the solar system would cause serious gravitational disruption to other planets, and would have been tracked by scientists for at least the past decade.When re-entering the galactic disc—as it does every 20–25 million years—it comes under the influence of the far stronger "disc tides", which, according to mathematical models, increase the flux of Oort cloud comets into the inner Solar System by a factor of 4, thus leading to a massive increase in the likelihood of a devastating comet impact. A worldwide panic ensued, stoked by the media and such newspaper headlines as “Comet May Kill All Earth Life, Says Scientist.

The secretary of the Great Council of Ancestral Authorities commented that living Maya felt they were excluded from the activities in Tikal. One inscription, known as Tortuguero Monument 6, is the only inscription known to refer to bʼakʼtun 13 in any detail. Similarly, the Sun's December solstice position (in the northern hemisphere, the lowest point on its annual path; in the southern hemisphere, the highest) was in the constellation of Sagittarius, one of two constellations in which the zodiac intersects with the Milky Way. NISAR will study changes to ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice in fine detail, as climate change warms the air and ocean.Religious leaders, scientists, and even a hen (or so it seemed) have been making predictions for the end of the world almost as long as the world has been around. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Salvadoreños celebran el 13 Bʼaktun entre danzas, ceremonias y deseos de paz" [Salvadoreans commemorate the Bʼaktun 13 with dancing, ceremonials and wishes for peace].