20122012 (MMXII) will be a leap year starting on a Sunday. In the Gregorian calendar, it will be the 2012th year of the Common Era, or of Anno Domini; the 12th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 3rd of the 2010s decade.
It has been designated Alan Turing Year, commemorating the mathematician, computer pioneer, and code-breaker on the centennial of Turing's birth.
There are a variety of popular beliefs about the year 2012. These beliefs range from the spiritually transformative to the apocalyptic, and center upon various interpretations of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Contemporary scientists have disputed the apocalyptic versions.
Predictions and scheduled events in 2012January 13 - The first Winter Youth Olympics will be held in Innsbruck, Austria.
January 31 - 433 Eros, the second-largest Near Earth Object on record (size 13×13×33 km) will pass Earth at 0.1790 astronomical units (26,778,019 km - 16,639,090 miles. NASA studied Eros with the NEAR Shoemaker probe launched on February 17, 1996.
February 6 - Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marking the 60th anniversary of her accession to the Thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (as well as the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth.
April 1 - The 1940 United States Census will be available for public viewing.
April 17 - The United States will cede wartime control of the military of the Republic of Korea after 50 years and dissolve the Combined Forces Command. Two distinct military commands (South Korea and the United States) will operate in Korea during wartime, rather than one unified command under the Combined Forces Command.
May 12 - 12 August The 2012 World Expo is to be held in Yeosu, South Korea.
May 20 - Annular solar eclipse. Path of annularity runs through the Pacific Ocean from northern China to California.
June 6 - The second and last solar transit of Venus of the century. The next pair is predicted to occur in 2117 and 2125.
June 18 - June 23 - Turing Centenary Conference at the University of Cambridge, in honor of the mathematician, computer scientist, and cryptographer Alan Turing, the last day of the conference being the hundredth anniversary of his birth.
July 18 - July 21 - The 2012 World Rowing Championships will be held at Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
July 27 - Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics begins in London at 19:30 UTC, 20:30 BST.
August 12 - Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
August 29 - Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics begins in London.
September 9 - Closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
November 13 - Total solar eclipse (visible in northern Australia and the South Pacific).
December 21 - 11:12 UTC. Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
December 21 - The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, notably used by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization among others, completes a "great cycle" of thirteen b'ak'tuns (periods of 144,000 days each) since the mythical creation date of the calendar's current era.
December 31 - The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends.
Unknown datesChina will launch the Kuafu spacecraft.
Pleiades, a proposed super computer built by Intel and SGI for NASA's Ames Research Center, will be completed, reaching a peak performance of 10 Petaflops (10 quadrillion floating point operations per second).
Sequoia, a proposed super computer built by IBM for the National Nuclear Security Administration will be completed, reaching a peak performance of 20 Petaflops.
On the sun, the solar maximum of Solar Cycle 24 in the 11-year sunspot cycle is forecast to occur. Solar Cycle 24 is regarded to have commenced January 2008, and on average will reach its peak of maximal sunspot activity around 2012. The period between successive solar maxima averages 11 years (the Schwabe cycle), and the previous solar maximum of Solar Cycle 23 occurred in 2000-2002. During the solar maximum the sun's magnetic poles will reverse.
Major religious holidays in 2012January 7 - Christmas Day by Julian Calendar (Celebrated by Eastern Orthodox Christians)
February 1 - Imbolc, a Cross-quarter day (Celebrated on February 2 in some places)
February 5 - Mawlid an Nabi - Islam
February 22 - Ash Wednesday - Western Christianity
March 8 - Purim - Judaism
March 8 - Holi - Hinduism
March 20 - Spring Equinox, Persian New Year (Nouruz), also known as Ostara
April 1 - Ramanavami - Hinduism
April 6 - Hanuman Jayanti - Hinduism
April 7 - Passover - Judaism
April 8 - Easter - Western Christianity
April 15 - Easter - Eastern Christianity
May 1 - Beltane, a Cross-quarter day
May 27 - Shavuot - Judaism
June 17 - Lailat al Miraj - Islam
June 20 - Summer solstice, also known as Midsummer
July 20 - Ramadan Begins - Islam
August 1 - Lammas, a Cross-quarter day
August 2 - Raksha Bandhan - Hinduism
August 10 - Janmashtami - Hinduism
August 19 - Eid al Fitr - Islam
September 17 - Rosh Hashanah - Judaism
September 21 - Fall Equinox, also known as Mabon
October 1 - Sukkot - Judaism
October 2 - Mehregan - Zoroastrianism and Persian Culture
October 24 - Vijaya Dashami/Dusshera - Hinduism
October 26 - Eid al-Adha, a religious festival in Islam
November 1 - Samhain, a Cross-quarter day, Neopagan new year and Christian All Saints' Day
November 13 - Diwali - Hinduism
November 15 - Islamic New Year
December 9 - Hanukkah - Judaism
December 21 - Winter solstice, also known as Yule
December 25 - Christmas - Western Christianity
