After the failed doomsday prediction, a new question arises in the hearts of doomsday anticipators - is the world going to end on October 21, 2011 or December 21, 2012?

Harold Camping, the head of Family Radio who predicted May 21, 2011 as judgment day once said that it is absolutely going to happen, there is no way it is not gonna happen, and I cannot schedule an interview because I am not gonna be here on this day, which peacefully passed last weekend. Monday, on his weekly broadcast, Camping pushed off his rapture prediction date to October 21, 2011, which marks his third rapture prediction. The May 21 rapture did not occur because no one would be able to survive it for more than a few days, or let alone five months to suffer God's wrath, Camping said. That is why the world will end all at once on October 21, 2011, according to Camping.

Wait a minute! There is another doomsday candidate you may want to consider.

While Camping asserts the coming of the end of the world on October 21, many claim the new doomsday predictions are starting to shift to the Mayan calendar, and the date of December 21, 2012. December 21 is said to be the end date of the largest grand cycle in the Mayan Long Count Calendar. Read more on December 21 doomsday prediction here.

Why would people take interest in such an ancient calendar? The Mayan civilization was among the largest in the world, and the most developed and advanced in mathematics and astronomy of their day. The Mayan Calendar is a prophetic calendar that some claim would help us foresee the future providing an exact schedule for the Cosmic Plan.

The so-called 2012 Phenomenon is not only derived from the Mayan calendar, but also includes scientific factors such as galactic alignment, the gravitational effect on natural disasters, and a geomagnetic reversal.

NASA predicted that the number of sunspots and sun flares would increase in 2012, causing satellite disruptions and power outages.

A massive solar flare would release energy equal to 100 billion atomic bombs, a situation worsened by the weakening magnetic field of the earth.

Solar flare would probably reverse the north and south magnetic poles, causing a series of catastrophic chain reactions. The weakening of the magnetic fields of the earth may expose the inhabitants to cosmic and solar radiation that would affect nuclear reactors. According to Fox News, researchers based the possibility of Earth's worst-case scenario solar storm on a major solar storm in 1859, which caused telegraph wires to short out in Western countries, igniting widespread fires. 1859's solar storm was the worst in the past 200 years, marking the advent of modern power grids and satellites.

Both religious and non-religious, scientific and non-scientific sources, and numerous eschatological beliefs support that apocalyptic events will occur on December 21, 2012.

The public interest in the end of the world is undeniably high, especially when it involves scientific predictions rather than rapture predictions. Since 2007, NASA's public outreach website Ask and Astrobiologist received over 5,000 questions on the subject.

As questions and interviews flood in on Harold Camping and Family Radio, a close look at the Mayan Calendar and NASA's research may help you stay tuned to the real Doomsday.

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