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update at 8:42 p.m. ET

A seemingly benign phone number that defines everything from a XII ball and the hours of day and dark to the day of Christmas and the astrological signs , 12 may be in the spotlight today , 12/12/12 .

the mayan long-count calendar

Some believe the end of the Mayan calendar, Dec. 21, 2012, will usher in a new spiritual era or even a doomsday. And new research suggests the civilization’s demise long ago may have been partly their own doing.

This engagement structure , in which the same two - figure number gets double three times , wo n’t pass again until next 100 , harmonise to the Astronomical Society of the Pacific ( ASP ) . And this is the last prison term the same figure for the mean solar day , calendar month and year ( the last two finger’s breadth , at least ) will occur until Jan. 1 , 2101 ( 01/01/01 ) .

But does the ternary dose of 12 hold any meaning ? Depends on whom you ask , but in Hong Kong and Singapore , twain are crowd the aisles for a chance to bond the knot on a day they say symbolizes love , according to intelligence outlets . Las Vegas is also abuzz with nuptials , according to CNN , which also reported an Indian numerologist say today is a heavy day to set forth a new business organization venture . Making the rounds online , a male child who will turn 12 today at 12:12 p.m. in Bronxville , N.Y. , hint we ’re all a bit " issue crazy . "

Doom is n’t far behind the celebrations . While mostbelievers in the Mayan apocalypsethink the terminal of the world will come on Dec. 21 , 2012 , plain some have interpreted the end of theMaya Long Count calendardifferently , pinpointing Dec. 12 , 2012 , as a day of reckoning . ( There is no grounds to indicate the Mayans forecast the terminal of their calendar to mean the end of the cosmos . )

A photograph of a silver clock in grass

turn end of the world on its head , the ASP has coined today " Anti - Doomsday . "

" While many initiate and prognosticators bemoan the suppose closing of the worldly concern on December 21 , 2012 ( thanks to be amiss Mayan predictions ) , here at the ASP we encourage everyone to go in the opposite – and exact – direction . Thus , we are declare December 12 , 2012 as Anti - Doomsday Day in solemnisation of rational cerebration and reasoned sermon , " according to an ASP statement . [ remnant of the World ? Top Doomsday Fears ]

And if one were to tie any significance to today , and numerology in general , the ASP reminds us of passel of auspicious connexion with the number 12 : the months in a class on present-day calendar ; 12 traditional zodiac sign ; 12 Olympian divinity and goddesses in Greek mythology ; and 12 bottles of wine-coloured in a case . In Christian belief , Jesus had 12 apostles .

An artist�s illustration of the solar system�s planets in alignment.

Then there ’s Mars , which is 12 wakeful - minutes from the sun , and Jupiter , which takes 12 twelvemonth to orbit the sun , according to the ASP .

The most recent threefold - digit setup like today ’s fall out on Nov. 11 , 2011 ( 11/11/11 ) , another daylight some link with Mayan doom . That day most in all likelihood became link with Dec. 21 , 2012 , when believers noticed that the U.S. Naval Observatory had mark the exact sentence of the 2012 wintertime solstice — when Earth ’s contestation is angled at its farthest from the sun — for 11:11 Universal Time on Dec. 21 , John Hoopes , a learner of Maya history at the University of Kansas , told LiveScience last year . ( The Observatory now number the official time for the winter solstice at 11:12 Universal Time . )

While the meaning behind numbers , call in numerology , has yet to be ground in science , humanity seems firmly - wired to regain such numerical association .

a photo of the night sky that appears like a smiley face

" Cognitive scientists have demonstrated that our brains are hard - wired to look for meaningful patterns in the sensory data it collects from the world , " said Alan Lenzi , prof of religious studies at University of the Pacific . " Numbers that are already significant to us , such as calendar dates , that also coincidentally fall into an obvious pattern become doubly significant , " Lenzi told LiveScience in 2011 , speaking about1/11/11 .

Lenzi add , " Given the proclivity for people to see for significance in particular solar day and prison term ( e.g. the " final stage of the universe " ) , design are easily imbued with imaginative meaning , " Lenzi say .

And patterns tend to stick in our heads — you ’re more potential to remember a natal day that ’s on 11/11 , 12/12 , or10/10 , than one on 12/5 , for instance . The same would be the typeface for various time of the day . " mass are more likely to recollect 11:11 than they are , say , 4:29 or 6:53 or 3:17 or something like that , " Hoopes said .

A mosaic in Pompeii and distant asteroids in the solar system.

A calculator shows the start of the seemingly endless number that constitutes Pi, the mathematical concept and symbol.

an image of the stars with many red dots on it and one large yellow dot

Catherine the Great art, All About History 127

A digital image of a man in his 40s against a black background. This man is a digital reconstruction of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, which used reverse aging to see what he would have looked like in his prime,

Xerxes I art, All About History 125

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, All About History 124 artwork

All About History 123 art, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II

Tutankhamun art, All About History 122

An image comparing the relative sizes of our solar system�s known dwarf planets, including the newly discovered 2017 OF201

an illustration showing a large disk of material around a star

a person holds a GLP-1 injector

A man with light skin and dark hair and beard leans back in a wooden boat, rowing with oars into the sea

an MRI scan of a brain

A photograph of two of Colossal�s genetically engineered wolves as pups.

An illustration of a hand that transforms into a strand of DNA