Those anxiously awaiting the return of Nibiru are, whether they know it or not, continuing the legacy of Russian-born author Zechariah Sitchin, whose 1976 bestseller The 12th Planet – and five subsequent follow-ups – provide the core framework for the Nibiru myth.

Sitchin’s version of humankind’s origins shares its basic ancient astronaut premise with the work of Erich von Däniken, but is as intricate and involved as history itself, spanning almost half a million years and our entire Solar System. It goes something like this:

Facing extinction on their home planet of Nibiru 450,000 years ago, the deposed ruler of a race known to mythology as the Anunnaki, the Elohim or the Nefilim, travels to Earth.