No doubt you folks have been keeping up with the latest end-of-the-
world scam, the Dec 21, 2012 winter solstice where the alignment of
the Galactic Equator and Ecliptic is supposed to cause the Sun
to "eclipse" the galactic center, with all sorts of dire
consequences. Dozens of books and yellow science TV shows have been
marketed for the faithful, and the event has supposedly been
predicted by Nostradamus and ancient Mayan astrologers (as if they
had any way of knowing where the galactic center was located).

Actually, I noticed this a few years ago, when I purchased a star
atlas and by chance opened it to the page showing the intersection of
the ecliptic and galactic equator at Right Ascension 18 hours and
Declination 23.5 deg S, at precisely 270 deg ecliptic longitude at a
galactic longitude of about 6.5 deg. This all occurs in the
constellation of Sagittarius.

Not that this should surprise anyone, due to precession of the
equinoxes, the rolling of earth's axis like a running-down top (one
circuit every 26000 years or so), the equatorial coordinate system of
the celestial sphere rotates about the galactic equator like the
point of contact of a belt and a hula hoop. The intersection of the
maximum equatorial distance of the sun at DEC -23.5 deg and RA 18h
and ecliptic longitude 270 deg always occurs at those coordinates, it
has to, that's how winter solstice is defined. Regardless of where
on the precession cycle you are, the ecliptic MUST cross the galactic
equator SOMEWHERE, in fact, it does so twice, on opposite sides of
the sky, that's just a property of great circles!

The key to the bogosity of this whole exercise is that the sun will
not "eclipse" the galactic core on that day, that's as far south as
the sun goes and the galactic center is still a good 6 and a half
degrees away, to the southeast. Besides, Sol crosses the Milky Way
twice a year anyway, due to earth's revolution about the Sun. It's no
big deal. 2012 is just the year it will occur on the first days of
summer and winter.