The star of Bethlehem was not a comet or a supernova



[ad_1]

The star of Bethlehem has often been depicted as a comet or supernova in ancient paintings, but this is incorrect. Rather, the inhabitants of that time were able to witness a special planetary union to which they could attach great importance. According to historical data, the date of Christ’s birth is also wrong, because it is certainly not AD. 1, but was born a few years earlier.

Jesus birth

The Romans counted the years from the accession to the throne of Emperor Diocletian. The birth of Christ was performed by the Roman abbot Dionysius Exiguus as the beginning year of our current calculation in the 6th century. He determined when Jesus could be born. According to tradition, both the conception and death of Christ were supposed to take place on March 25. The abbot, who was an expert in calculating Passover, expected a year close to the year 15 of Emperor Tiberius, when Passover fell on March 25 (according to Luke, the baptism of Jesus took place in the year 15 of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea). At that time he had done the death of Christ, and he had 31 years of this, because Jesus had begun his public ministry for approximately 1 year at the age of 30. Thus, the result was the year 28 of the reign of Emperor Augustus; therefore, according to him, Christ was born then.

However, several errors crept into the calculation. For example, it did not take into account the fact that Augustus ruled as Octavian for four years before taking the name Augustus. He also ignored the fact that there is no year 0 in historical time, but 1 BC directly in the is. It follows year 1. Also, according to the biblical text, it seems so true that when Jesus was born, King Herod, who died in the 4 a. C., was still alive. So, Jesus, if he was a historical person, he certainly wasn’t born in 1, but a few years earlier.

Adoration of the Magi in a fresco by GiottoSource: Wikimedia Commons

The origin of the star of Bethlehem

According to most scholars today, the story of the Star of Bethlehem is the closest to determining the birth of Christ. According to the Bible, the sages came from the East to worship the born King of the Jews. The event caught our attention by the appearance of a bright star; this star guided them on their way. The arrival of the three kings (or only three scientists, possibly astrologers) caused a great prominence in the capital, Jerusalem, since they did not know of the birth of a prince there. King Herod called the magi and asked them: if they find your little one, tell him that he can come before him. Of course, she really didn’t want to worship him, she wanted to disappear.

What could the star of Bethlehem be, if it exists? Lots of fine arts have chosen the birth of Christ as their theme, and the comet star shines most often over these mangers. Was the star of Bethlehem a bright comet that had just appeared at that time? Certainly not, no matter how spectacular the paintings are. Because the birth of Christ was a joyous event, but comets were always a bad omen. On the other hand, surprisingly bright comets from around the world, including Rome but also China, for example, have always been carefully recorded, but the records do not write about a spectacular comet around the beginning of our time.

Representation of the Star of Bethlehem in Bethlehem, a cave below the Church of the NativitySource: Wikimedia Commons

It couldn’t be a meteor either, because it only glows for a few seconds. An asteroid could not have passed through our earth, which is generally not visible to the naked eye, but if so, they could still be up to hours and move rapidly in the sky; the star of Bethlehem, on the other hand, appeared for a long time, for days or weeks, although it was in a place among the stars. Although this is also not clear: from the biblical description (“the star they saw in the east rose before them until it finally stopped over the place where the child was”) it seems as if the phenomenon was independent of the general movement of celestial bodies, of course this cannot be scientifically interpreted.

Johannes Kepler already believed in the 17th century that the source of the story of the Star of Bethlehem may have been the coexistence of Jupiter and Saturn.

The so-called “greater coexistence” in the language of Eastern astrology clearly signified the birth of the king of the Jews, since Saturn was the planet of the Jews, Jupiter (also) the king. A similar but unique one (the so-called conjunction) occurred some 120 years earlier and was interpreted the same way even then. Many considerations suggest that this extremely rare phenomenon may have been the Star of Bethlehem. If this is really the case, then the birth of Christ can actually be put at 7 “before the birth of Christ”.

Artistic illustration of the star of BethlehemSource: leemage via AFP / © Ron Miller / Novapix / Leemage / Ron Miller

It is possible that the birth of Christ did not originally fall in winter, but in spring, since, according to Luke, the shepherds gathered around the newborn in the manger, herding their flocks in the open air around Bethlehem. However, in December the shepherds certainly did not stay outside at night with their flocks, so the weather was too harsh in the Bethlehem region.

Early Christian tradition also gave Spring Day the day of Jesus’ birth: one of March 25, March 28, April 19, or May 29.

However, as the time of the winter solstice was an important holiday for the ancient peoples of nature, at that time the “rebirth” of the Sun was saluted. To suppress the worship of the sun, the Church saw fit to replace the meaning of the old party for a new religious content. his birth first on January 6, and then around 354 for the feast of pagan sun worship. Thereafter, Christmas falls in late December.

The approach of Saturn (top) and Jupiter (bottom) in early DecemberSource: NASA / Bill Ingalls

The star of Bethlehem will reappear this year

As Origo reported, the Star of Bethlehem will be visible again this year. The two largest planets in the Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn, have not been as close together for 800 years as they are now at Christmas.

The two gas giants gradually approached each other in the winter sky, until they finally looked almost like a “star” with the naked eye on December 21. This will remain roughly the same until Christmas Day. The phenomenon will be observed in Hungary at a low level above the horizon after sunset. in a southwesterly direction.



[ad_2]