12/20/2022 – Ephemeris – Hunting for the Star of Bethlehem: When did Herod the Great Die – Part 1

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, December 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 8 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:16. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 6:20 tomorrow morning.

In looking for the year Jesus was born and the appearance of the Star of Bethlehem, we look to the latter years of Herod the Great’s reign. Jewish historian Josephus recounts that Herod died shortly after an eclipse of the Moon occurred. The date of that eclipse, according to many historians, was March 13th, of 4 BCE and before Passover, a month later. The Greek text of Matthew states that Herod’s visitors, looking for the newborn King of the Jews, were Magi. Magi were priest-astrologers of the Zoroastrian Religion of Persia. That being the case, the Star could have been the triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn against the constellation of Pisces, when three times Jupiter passed Saturn between the end of May and early December of 7 BCE.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT –5 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The Jupiter-Saturn triple conjunction of 7 BC. Click on the image to enlarge and animate. This animation is at 5-day intervals. The conjunctions took place against the stars of Pisces the fish, a constellation thought, in those days, to be associated with the Jews. The Moon will be popping in and out of the view. It ends in February of 6 BC, when Mars and the Moon enters the picture. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Cartes du Ciel and GIMP.

Above is an animation of the triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn of 7 BCE in 5 day steps. The body popping in and frame is the Moon. The first conjunction was on May 29th. Both planets stopped their eastward motion around July 6th. Astrologically, they became stationary and began their westward or retrograde motion. The second conjunction was on October 11th. Both planets stopped their westward or retrograde motion on November 1st. Again they were stationary to resume their normal eastward motion. The third and last conjunction was on December 8th. Two months later, on February 21st, of 6 BCE, Mars joined the group as they all move off to the western sky in the evening. Using this triple conjunction as the Star of Bethlehem, Jesus would have been born in the late autumn of 7 BCE or early winter of 6 BCE.

This lunar eclipse candidate for the eclipse that heralded the death of Herod the Great, and the favorite, since the time of Johannes Kepler, is the lunar eclipse of March 13, 4 BCE. It was a partial eclipse, only visible in the predawn hours. This eclipse occurred one lunar month before Passover.
Too little time for all the events Josephus describes. A better lunar eclipse occurred a bit less than three years later. Those defending the 4 BCE eclipse sometimes suggest that the Passover mentioned by Josephus was the next year’s Passover of 3 BCE. If it was the next year’s Passover, why mention Passover at all?

Tomorrow I’ll take a break to look to the naked eye planets, and to the winter solstice. Winter begins tomorrow! Thursday I’ll look to a better lunar eclipse and begin to explore another Bethlehem Star candidate.

12/20/2021 – Ephemeris – Could the Star of Bethlehem have been a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BCE?

This is Ephemeris for Monday, December 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 8 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:04, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:17. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 6:12 this evening.

This year we have two bright evening Christmas stars, Venus and Jupiter. But what about the one described in the Bible, in the Gospel of Matthew? We will look today at the first of two events that may have been recorded as the Star of Bethlehem. In 7 BCE there was a rare event over 6 months when three times the planet Jupiter passed Saturn against the stars of the constellation Pisces. Could the Persian astrologer priests, called Magi, have read into the event enough significance to start the journey to Jerusalem in search of the newborn King of the Jews? It was the scribe’s readings that sent them to Bethlehem. Jupiter, Saturn and Pisces all may have had significance to the Magi.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Jupiter and Saturn pass each other three times from May to December in 7 BC. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts) and GIMP.

This timing of the Star is based on the Jewish historian Josephus, dating the death of Herod the Great just before a lunar eclipse. The eclipse most historians accept was the one on March 13, 4 BCE. So Jesus could have been born in 6 BCE.

I have been giving a presentation to the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society every other December since the 1980s on the Star of Bethlehem, tweaking it each time, and completely rewriting it a few times. Below is my script from my 2020 program In Search of the Star of Bethlehem for the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society. It has small thumbnails of the slides. The name says notes, but it evolved into a complete script, and is laid out to be read that way.

Star of Bethlehem 2020 Notes (PDF)

In the presentation, I cover another possibility for the “Star”, which I happen to like more. I’ll talk about that on Christmas Eve. If you can’t wait, check out the PDF, or a prior December program in the Archives.

12/24/2020 – Ephemeris – Was the Star of Bethlehem a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC?

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24th. Today the Sun will be up for 8 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:07, and it will rise tomorrow at 8:18. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 3:50 tomorrow morning.

For many years the most popular theory for the origin of the Star of Bethlehem was a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC. This is because, due to Earth’s motion, other planets from our view point seem to reverse course when we pass them or are being passed in the circular racetrack of the solar system. When Jupiter and Saturn approach each other just before they go retrograde or reverse course they have a chance to pass each other, backup and pass again, then going forward to pass a third time. Jupiter and Saturn did that last in 1981, so it’s a reasonably rare occurrence, especially when it happens in front of the constellation Pisces which was supposedly related to the Jews.

The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Jupiter and Saturn pass each other three times from May to December in 7 BC against the constellation of Pisces. Reload the page to replay the animation. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts) and GIMP.

Retrograde motion illustrated using Mars in 2018. Created using my LookingUp program.

 

 

12/19/2017 – Ephemeris – Were celestial events in 7 BC interpreted as the Star of Bethlehem?

Ephemeris for Tuesday, December 19th. The Sun will rise at 8:15. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:04. The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 6:34 this evening.

This year we have no bright evening Christmas star. But what about the one described in the Bible, in the gospel of Luke? We will look today at the first of two events that may have been recorded as the Star of Bethlehem. In 7 BC there was a rare event over 6 months when three times the planet Jupiter passed Saturn against the stars of the constellation Pisces. Could the Persian astrologer priests called Magi, have read into the event enough significance to start the journey to Jerusalem in search of the new born King of the Jews? It was the scribe’s readings that then sent them to Bethlehem. It is thought that Pisces was associated with the Hebrews, Jupiter with the Messiah or world ruler, and Saturn with the peoples of Palestine.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The Jupiter-Saturn triple conjunction of 7 BC. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Cartes du Ciel.

The animation above shows the planets at 5 day intervals in 7 and a bit in 6 BC.  The normal or posigrade motion is toward the east or left.  When an outer planet approaches its opposition from the Sun, it seems to slow and reverse direction and head westward for a time, which is retrograde motion.  After a time it reverses and heads back eastward again.  That’s why the planets seem to see-saw back and forth.  Jupiter passes Saturn every 20 years.  The next time will be in 2020.  On my Wednesday planet charts Jupiter is seen sneaking up on Saturn week by week.  In order to have three conjunctions instead of one, the planets need to be near opposition from the Sun when they pass.  The last time that happened was in 1980, but it wasn’t against Pisces.  Triple conjunctions against a particular zodiacal constellation are much rarer.

The dates for key events in the animation above are:

• First Conjunction May 29, 7 BC
• Planets are Stationary July 6, and begin retrograde motion
• Second Conjunction October 11
• Planets are Stationary November 1 and resume posigrade motion
• Third Conjunction on December 8
• Mars joins February 26, 6 BC

Retrograde motion was difficult to explain when one thinks that the Earth is the center of the Universe and stationary, while the planets supposedly orbited in perfect uniform circular motion around it.  It’s easy when the Earth is a moving planet like the rest.  When an outer (superior) planet is at opposition from the Sun.  The Earth is between the Sun and planet and moving faster.  So we’re passing the outer planet.  When you are in a car passing another, the car being passed seems to move backward with respect to your car.  Since the planets orbits are like a race track, we get to lap the outer planets at regular intervals.

12/22/2016 – Ephemeris – Could Jupiter and Saturn have combined to be the Star of Bethlehem?

Ephemeris for Thursday, December 22nd.  The Sun will rise at 8:17.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 5:05.  The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:45 tomorrow morning.

This morning the planet Jupiter is seen right below the waning crescent Moon.  It reminds me of one of the possible answers to the questions to what the Star of Bethlehem was.  Back in 7 BC Jupiter passed Saturn three times in that year.  This is a reasonably rare occurrence especially against a particular constellation, which in this case was Pisces the fish, which would occur every 800 plus years.  Early in the run of this program there was another so-called triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.  This time it was against the constellation of Virgo the virgin in 1980 and 81.  Jupiter passes Saturn every 20 years, but only when it does so when they are opposite the Sun in the sky is there a chance for a triple conjunction.  Tomorrow I’ll look at two really close conjunctions of Jupiter and Venus that also could have been seen by the Magi as the Star of Bethlehem.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Jupiter and the Moon at 7 a.m. this morning, December 22, 2016. Created using Stellarium.

Jupiter and Saturn pass each other three times from May to December in 7 BC. Created using Cartes du Ciel (Sky Charts) and GIMP.  Click image to enlarge.