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12/17/2012 – Ephemeris – Were the planetary conjunctions of 3 and 2 BC the Star of Bethlehem?
Ephemeris for Tuesday, December 18th. The sun will rise at 8:14. It’ll be up for 8 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:03. The moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 11:43 this evening. | For over 400 years astronomers have wondered and looked through ancient Chinese records, ran the positions of planets back 2000 years, and still no one knows for sure what the Star of Bethlehem really was, but here’s my favorite scenario. On August 13th of 3 BC Jupiter and Venus briefly merged in the pre-dawn skies against the constellation of Leo the lion. A month later Jupiter was in conjunction with Regulus the bright star in Leo, the little king star. Then 9 months later, after sunset on June 16th of 2 BC the two planets again joined as one in Leo. The king of the planets twice mating with Venus as Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of fertility, against the constellation of the lion signifying Judah from Genesis? The Magi not being Jewish might have found meaning in all that.
Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.
Addendum
Animation of the Jupiter-Venus conjunction of August 3, 3 BC. in the morning twilight. Created using Stellarium.
Click on the image to enlarge and show the animation. Jupiter is rising while Venus, the brighter one, is heading back to the sun. Jupiter will seem to mate with Venus. 9 months later, the human gestation period their paths seem to cross again.
June of 2 BC just after sunset Jupiter and Venus again cross paths. Created using Stellarium.
Click on the image to enlarge and show the animation.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 