Document text
Comet, planets or supernova? Star of Jesus' time still stirs speculation By BILL VARBLE The only recorded account of the star of Bethlehem is the familiar one in the book of Matthew: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, `Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East' ..." So was the star a comet, a supernova, a conjunction of planets, or what? It wouldn't have been simply a bright star or planet, says amateur astronomer Richard Moeschl of Ashland, who often presents programs on the star. The ancients were intimately acquainted with the night sky and would not have mistaken bright objects such as Venus or Sirius for something new and momentous. Could it have been a comet? After all, a famous Giotto painting shows a comet in a Nativity scene, and we know that Haley's Comet made a visit in 11 B.C. But as Moeschl points out, comets were seen as terrifying -- not as heralds of good news. A comet was thought to have marked the assassination of Julius Caesar, for example. Could the star have been a supernova -- an exploding star that flares to billions of times its former brightness before sinking into eternal darkness? The pioneering astronomer Keppler suggested just this possibility centuries ago. But careful observers of the heavens, the ancient Chinese, for example, would have noticed and recorded a supernova, and they didn't. How about a conjunction of planets? "Probably," says Gary Sprague, a North Medford High School science teacher who presents shows on the subject at the school's planetarium. "They did make quite a thing out of stars and planets being close together in the sky," he says. "And there were several conjunctions right around then." Astronomers know now that Mars moved close to Saturn and Venus in the 7 B.C. sky, and that Jupiter and Saturn approached each other three times between May and December of that year. Is that too early? No. We know from the biblical record that King Herod of Judea was ruling when Jesus was born, and he died in 4 B.C. (although the B.C.-A.D. system didn't start until six centuries later at the order of Pope John I). The exact date of the conjunctions wouldn't have to be in early winter, since Dec. 25 was not celebrated as Christmas until the church picked the date in the fourth century to take over popular pagan celebrations at that time of the year. In "Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer's Confirmation," (1979) David Hughes asserted that Jesus' birthday was Sept. 15, 7 B.C. Hughes said he was 90 percent sure. "Hmm," Sprague says. "I'm not sure about that." Both Babylonian and Chinese observers did record rare conjunctions of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in 7 B.C. And Moeschl says that about this time, Jupiter passed in front of the star Regulus three times. Contemporary observers wouldn't have mistaken such a conjunction of planets for a new star, or any single body. "It's not a big deal in terms of brightness," Moeschl says. "And you have distinct points of light, one stationary, one moving." The observers would have been thinking of what the unusual celestial show meant, he says. "So that's astrology, which is what the wise men (or Magi, or magicians) were," he says. Regulus (from the Latin word for king) is the "king star" in the constellation Leo. It's the "heart of the lion" and was associated with the tribe of Judah. Seeing Jupiter passing in front of Leo three times, the Magi would have known of the Judah-Leo connection. "That would have said to them, hey, this is important," Moeschl says. "Almost like a big highlighter pen in the sky." The triple approach was the result of what astronomers call retrograde motion, in which a planet appears to back up in its orbit. The phenomenon is only an apparent one, caused by the relative motions of the planets. If there is finally no way we can know exactly what the Star was, Moeschl, for one, can live with that. "The birth of a spiritual leader is always wrapped in mystery and awe," he says. "We always want to have an explanation, but there are a lot of mysteries out there. I'm comfortable in between." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA