LETTERS:In December 2010, the then Science, Technology and Innovation minister, Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili gave an official reply in the Dewan Negara that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had found no evidence of a planet called Nibiru.
Incidently, there had been some public queries/fears of a collision against our planet Earth, back then, at least for those in the know.
Interestingly, during these last few decades, Planet X was a name given to an unknown large mysterious object found in the outer reaches of the solar system in 1983 by IRAS (Infra Red Astronomical Satellite), an observatory satellite sent by NASA.
The story of its sighting in 1983 was acknowleged and reported in the major newspapers then.
Thereon, arose the possibility of a 10th planetary body in the solar system after Pluto if confirmed, but till today, nothing has been forthcoming.
Historically, there was a planet Nibiru mentioned in the Mesopotamian/Summerian cunnieform records and was highlighted by famous Ancient Summerian expert and author, Zecharia Sitchin, in his first book of the Earth Chronicles series called 'The 12th Planet'.
The Summerians called the planet, Nibiru. There is indeed evidence of depiction in ancient Summerian tablet found dating back to 4,500 BC.
Apparently, Nibiru belonged to our own planetary system and took approximalety 3,600 earth years (1 nibiru year) to make a very elliptical orbit over the Sun.
Ancient Mesopotamian records are also said to attribute Nibiru's nearby trip to be responsible for the famous Great Biblical Flood believed to be around 11,000 BC.
An even more interesting piece of information is that in the original system of planets belonging to the Sun, there was actually no planet Earth but rather a larger planet known as Tiamat.
It took Planet Nibiru to actually collide with Tiamat which was between Jupiter and Mars to dislodge it from its then orbital path around the Sun.
Tiamat dislodgement involved its breaking up into a large piece and many smaller ones, with the smaller pieces forming what is known as The Asteroid Belt, now between the planet Mars and Jupiter, where originally Tiamat was.
The upper half of Tiamat was then pushed into a whole new orbital path, to be eventually our current planet Earth, between Mars and Venus.
Nibiru then continued on its journey into the far end of its elliptical journey around the Sun and has come back many times since approximately every 3,600 years, each time causing untold calamities on all planetary bodies throughout the solar system.
It comes as no surprise that the return of Planet Nibiru is currently being talked about especially in the cyberworld.
There is, however, no offical word from NASA on the matter, of any incoming planetary set of bodies, causing severe magnetic impact on Earth, Sun and other planets.
R. Suresh
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times