Zecharia Sitchin (Russian:Заха́рия Си́тчин; July 11, 1920 – October 9, 2010) was a Russian-born American author of books proposing an explanation for human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin attributes the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the Anunnaki, which he states was a race of extraterrestrials from a planet beyond Neptune called Nibiru. He believed this hypothetical planet of Nibiru to be in an elongated, elliptical orbit in the Earth's own Solar System, asserting that Sumerian mythology reflects this. Sitchin's books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into more than 25 languages.