Mysterious so-called Planet X has divided opinion between doomsday theorists and scientists for years.
Known as the Nibiru cataclysm, some predict an end of days scenario in which a large mysterious planet comes crashing into the Earth.
But although many doubt the wandering ninth planet even exists, one physicist has said that it smashing into the Earth can’t be entirely ruled out.
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It was first proposed in 1995 to happen at some point in the early 21st century.
Scientists are generally uniform in their conclusion that no such disastrous encounter will occur – with those including Neil deGrasse Tyson rejecting the existence of Planet X.
But one physicist previously conceded that there was a "small" chance that it could happen.
Also known as Planet Nine, Nibiru is said to be mentioned on ancient Sumerian clay tablets.
Legend has it that it crashed through the early Solar System and created the asteroid belt and the Earth before vanishing again.
Robert Matthews, a visiting physics professor of science at Aston University, wrote a succinct yet telling analysis of the Nibiru fears back in 2018.
Writing in BBC Science Focus magazine, he said: "It's true that beyond the Solar System lurk failed stars known as brown dwarfs that are barely bigger than the planet Jupiter.
“However, the chances of a disastrous encounter with one are mercifully small."
Nancy Lieder, an author, first came up with the idea that Nibiru would crash into the Earth after she claimed to have been contacted by aliens in 1995.
She and her followers said the end would come in 2003.
When this failed, the date was rescheduled several times, including June 21, 2020. All of the dates have come and gone without note.
Proponents of the theory have attached Nibiru to the Maya calendar which is said to have ended on December 21, 2012, a date on which, again, nothing happened.
Dr John Carlson, director of the Centre for Archaeoastronomy in the US, rubbished claims the world would end then some years ago.
He said: "The Maya calendar did not end on December 21, 2012, and there were no Maya prophecies foretelling the end of the world on that date."
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