OUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED: 7 end of world predictions you've survived and one you might not

According to scientists, the world could end on March 16, 2880.

Asteroid 1950 DA has a 0.3% chance of hitting Earth in 867 years' time and scientists have no idea how to stop it.

At 1km in diameter, it is moving at such force it rotates once every two hours and six minutes and would cause untold damage were it to hit the earth.

But this is far from being the first end of world prediction – even if it is based on something more than a whim, unlike most of these:

1,000 AD

In 999, fear over the imminent millennium prompted a rise in Christian activity as people thought the end of the world was about to arrive.

People even left their homes and jobs. And when New Year arrived without an apocalypse, end-of-the-world predictors said it was because they had miscalculated Jesus's age and that the end would come in 1033.

It didn't.

February 1524

An unusual alignment of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Pisces promoted London astrologers to predict a Great Flood similar to the one only Noah survived.

Thousands sought refuge on high ground - but it was all for nothing.

Nostradamus: Various dates

Nostradamus spread his bets when it came to deciding on which day the world would end, but they have all been wrong.

However, his followers claim he predicted great world catastrophes such as 9/11.

Autumn 1982

In 1980, television evangelist Pat Robertson told viewers of his popular television show 'The 700 Club' that the world would end in two years' time.

“I guarantee you, by the end 1982 there is going to be judgment on the world,” he proclaimed.

2000         

Various naysayers predicted our computer-reliant global society would implode at the Millennium as devices would get confused at the triple-zero date and reset their dates to 1900.

As it happened, the year 2000 – or Y2K - arrived peacefully, causing few problems at all.

May 21, 2011

US pastor Harold Camping predicted the world would end on May 21, 2011.

He made the prediction after forming his Family Stations Ministry in 1958, although he originally predicted doomsday on September 6 1994, later claiming he had miscalculated the date.

Camping, who died last December, aged 92, was criticised after some of his believers sold their belongings believing they would no longer need them.

December 21, 2012

The ancient Mayans predicted the world would end on December 21, 2012.

Or rather, those interpreting the Mayan calendar – which ran out on December 21 – guessed it ran out then as there was no world beyond this last day.

The Mayan 'Long Count' calendar, which began in 3114 BC, ended on the winter solstice in 2012.

Humanity continued though.

2018 to 2028

Dr F. Kenton Beshore predicts the end of the world will happen between 2018 and 2028.            

The founder of the World Bible Society bases his beliefs on bible passages that describe Rapture happening around 2021 when we “are all going to be gone”.

Beshore hopes his early warning will “lead billions and billions to Jesus”.

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