Thomas Tsigaridas wrote:
> As I recall, some astronomers claims that the Betlehem star was
> actually a conjunction of three planets in our solar system, and that
> this conjuction follows a cycle of exactly 800 years ... It was
> further claimed that this 800 year cycle was not "discovered" untill
> the 17th century by the renaissance astronomers.
> ... 25. december... 800. On the exact same date Charlemagne was
> crowned emperor by Pope Leo III. ...
We do a public planetarium show on this every year, so I've picked up a
few details. Johannes Kepler, as you said in the 16th c., was the first
to propose that a triple conjunction (Jupiter plus Saturn and one
additional planet) constituted the Bethlehem star. Three such
conjunctions happened in 7 BCE, one each in late May, late September,
and early December. None happened around our current celebration just
after the winter solstice. These two planets can be interpreted as
symbolically relevant to the event, as was the constellation in which
the conjunctions happened (Pisces). Conjunction in this case simply
means moderately close proximity, not an occultation.
The cycle time is more like 900 years, and this is only approximate,
because the presence of the third planet (Venus or Mars) when the other
two cross is less regular. It has happened in +908-9 and
+1821-22. This pretty well leaves out Charlemagne.
Another type of conjunction is when a planet passes very near a bright
star. This happened in September of 3 BCE, when Jupiter was very near
Regulus.
There are more details on the astronomy of this at Richard Binder's
site:
http://members.aol.com/pugnax/StarOfBethlehem/
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Chuck Blatchley
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