BY Clive Jackson
Welcome to the December night sky. This is the month when we have the shortest days and the longest nights in the northern hemisphere.
This happens due to the north pole of the Earth’s axis being tilted away from the Sun to its maximum extent. This tilt of the Earth axis gives us our seasons. The winter solstice is on December 21 – this marks maximum tilt away from the Sun.
The night of the 13th to the morning of the 14th is the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. Usually meteors are dust particles from the tails of comets but, in this case, the dust is from a small asteroid called Icarus.
December 3 marks the opposition of the gas giant planet Jupiter to our Sun. This planet is in the constellation of Taurus and will be high in the December night sky from sunset till sunrise.
The Star of Bethlehem
Jupiter will be the brightest star-like object in the night-time sky at Christmas and, as always, somebody will ask about the Star of Bethlehem.
There are many possible explanations for the Star of Bethlehem, but it is important to go back to the Bible to see what actually was written. In fact, in the copy of the Bible I have, very little detail is given; for example it describes three wise men and not kings and also they didn’t follow a star to the holy land, they simply saw it in the east.
This implies that the object had symbolic astrological significance rather than any single physical object in the sky, something that included royalty and Israel.
The most likely candidate for this “star” was the presence of the three planets, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, in the constellation of Pisces during the years 6 and 7 BC. Also at this time, Jupiter and Saturn had a triple conjunction and this would have had a significant symbolic meaning as it is rare once in a lifetime event.
This would have been enough to send the wise men to the holy land and they would have gone to the capital Jerusalem making enquires.
The wise men must have had considerable status and respect as they were received by King Herod, who believed their story of the future king of the Jews being born. It was then that they followed a “star” to Bethlehem.
The difficulty now arises that Bethlehem is only six miles south of Jerusalem and the only astronomical objects that travel north to south at a speed that is noticeable are meteors.
The journey to Bethlehem would have taken only a little over one hour by camel and the wise men would have travelled by day normally. Possibly whilst they were in Jerusalem they saw an exceptionally bright meteor that left a persistent trail in the sky right down to the horizon in the direction of Bethlehem.
They could have immediately left their lodgings and “followed the falling star” to where it stopped or fell, and that happened to be near a stable on the outskirts of Bethlehem. This also explains why the shepherds came to that area as they also saw the exceptionally bright meteor fall in the vicinity of the stable.
Of course, Joseph and Mary would have been rather too busy at the time to realise what was going on outside.
So, in order to explain the star of Bethlehem astronomically, we may have to assume two different objects. The first of astrological significance and the second a short duration event only observed locally. There may be other explanations for this mythical/mystical event.
The Moon is last quarter on the 6th, new on the 13th, first quarter on 20th and full on December 28.
Download the Algarve Skies Chart by clicking on the link below to download a PDF of the chart.
http://www.the-resident.com/portugalresident/pdf/ALGARVE_RESIDENT_ALGARVE_SKIES_DECEMBER_2012.pdf
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Clive Jackson is the Director of the Camera Obscura (next to the Castle in Tavira), specialising in education and public outreach.
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