"About 99.9% of the Star of Bethlehem stuff is nutty, but this isn't that. It's well-researched and reasonable."
Ronald A. Schorn, Ph.D.

Schorn founded and served as Chief of the Planetary Astronomy department at NASA and was Technical Editor of Sky & Telescope magazine. He is the author of Planetary Astronomy.

"Your wide-ranging and insightful scholarship in the Scriptures and in the parallel historical record from Josephus, Tacitus and the rest! Your command of Kepler's clock!!... My hat is off to you."
Gerard Piel, Ph.D.
Former Publisher and Editor, Scientific American magazine

Piel (1915-2004) was the holder of over twenty honorary doctorates. He published and edited Scientific American for nearly four decades, and served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A prolific writer, his last book is The Age of Science: What Scientists Learned in the Twentieth Century.

All but one of the nine Biblical qualifications for the Star have now been plausibly satisfied:

1.The first conjunction signified birth by its association to the day with Virgo "birthing" the new moon. Some might argue that the unusual triple conjunction by itself could be taken to indicate a new king.

2.The Planet of King's coronation of the Star of Kings signified kingship.

3.The triple conjunction began with the Jewish New Year and took place within Leo, showing a connection with the Jewish tribe of Judah (and prophecies of the Jewish Messiah).

4.Jupiter rises in the east.

5.The conjunctions appeared at precise, identifiable times.

6.Herod was unaware of these things; they were astronomical events which had significance only when explained by experts.

7.The events took place over a span of time sufficient for the Magi to see them both from the East and upon their arrival in Jerusalem.
8.Jupiter was ahead of the Magi as they traveled south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.

But the ninth qualification would require that Jupiter stop over Bethlehem.

How could a planet do that?

And did Jupiter do it?

film starts here

" To Stop a Star

The problem with a planet stopping is not what you might think. The problem is not that planets can't stop. Just the opposite. The problem is that all planets are always stopped to the eye of a human observer. The sky moves above Earth at half the speed of the hour hand on a common clock. Its movement is imperceptible to the naked eye. So, if all stars are always stopped, what can Matthew have meant?

Perhaps you have already anticipated the key to this final mystery: retrograde motion. An astronomer tracking the movement of planets through the star field watches not so much on the scale of minutes, but on the longer scale of days, weeks and months. On this scale of time, Jupiter did stop. On December 25 of 2 BC as it entered retrograde, Jupiter reached full stop in its travel through the fixed stars. Magi viewing from Jerusalem would have seen it stopped in the sky above the little town of Bethlehem."

Starry Night is really cool software, and many have used it and other methods to research the skies prior to what they thought was Herod's death in 4 BC.

Now that we can confirm that Herod died, according to Josephus' original writings in 1 BC, that allowed for examining the 2-3 BC skies.

All but one of the nine Biblical qualifications for the Star have now been plausibly satisfied

LOL... you morons are no different than obsessed Star Wars fanboys trying to "prove" that The Force really exists.

Pathetic.

Corky, thanks for some interesting stuff combining religion, astronomy and history. I have wondered if there could be a possible scientific answer for the star 'stopping' over Bethlehem.

Which goes to prove that ancients believed in astrology. LOL

The whole bible is astrology bullshit. Jesus personifies the sun's transition from the Age of Aries to the Age of Pisces. With the coming of the Age of Aquarius, the Age of the Piscean is almost ended. Christianity deserves to die with it.

Corky, thanks for some interesting stuff combining religion, astronomy and history. I have wondered if there could be a possible scientific answer for the star 'stopping' over Bethlehem.

Sirius is the brightest star in the heavens. The three stars at the belt of Orion point to it. Sirius appears to hang over Bethlehem every winter. Orion continues to the east. Just like the Bible describes.

-LOL... you morons are no different than obsessed Star Wars fanboys trying to "prove" that The Force really exists.

Pathetic.

#4 | Posted by Dr_Icepick

You become more of a fundie atheist asswipe as time goes on, just the other side of the coin from a Niceville type, who also think they "know" everthing there is to know in the universe.

But I guess you would know more about the science involved here than Schorn or Piel.... not.

-Which goes to prove that ancients believed in astronomy. LOL

ft