The Anunnaki and planet Nibiru

The claim

"Sumerian tablets record aliens from a hidden planet, Nibiru, who created humans."

Where the idea comes from

Zecharia Sitchin's 1976 book "The 12th Planet" and its sequels. Later, doomsday claims that Nibiru would hit Earth in 2003 and 2012.

What the evidence shows

1. Assyriologists say Sitchin's readings rest on mistranslations. In Sumerian and Akkadian texts the Anunnaki are gods of the pantheon, not visitors from a planet.
2. No cuneiform tablet describes a twelfth planet. "Nibiru" in Babylonian astronomy is an astronomical point associated with Jupiter or the god Marduk.
3. A planet large enough to matter on Nibiru's supposed 3,600-year orbit would be easily seen by today's sky surveys and would disturb the orbits of the known planets.
4. Every predicted Nibiru arrival date has passed without a trace.

What is still open

Astronomers do search for a distant "Planet Nine", but that is a small, cold planet far beyond Neptune, unrelated to Sitchin's claims.

Our verdict

Debunked Bad translation plus a planet that astronomy rules out.

Sources

• Zecharia Sitchin (Wikipedia)
• Nibiru cataclysm (Wikipedia)

Checked 31 October 2026. Spotted a newer source? Tell us.