A celestial tryst between the CEO of Roman gods and the Roman goddess of love and beauty?
This seems hardly a match made in heaven. You might even say this relationship is star-crossed. But watch the western sky just after sunset on Tuesday, June 30th and you’ll see a rare conjunction between a beautiful bright greenhouse effected hottie named Venus and Jupiter, a gassy giant who only appears dim because he is so far away.
Archaeoastronomers tell us that the last time these planets were so close– in fact a fraction of a degree nearer was June 17, 2 BCE. Some say that Persian astrologers might have seen something in the symbolism of these two nomadic stars coming together as on in Leo, a constellation associated with kings and Jewish people.
Persians in the East who followed this star might have been led West, into the Kingdom of Judea.
Seven month’s later, a lunar eclipse’s blood moon may have coincided with the death of a notoriously bloodthirsty King Herod. But many Christians believe that the star of Bethlehem is a miracle far beyond anything that could be explained by retroactive celestial calculations.
Many non-Christians are equally unimpressed with attempts to connect predictable orbits and historical events with biblical texts.
But if you find yourself under clear skies, look for yourself with binoculars and your naked eyes.
Now try to imagine watching these bright “stars” touching each other in those days nearly 2,000 years before cable televisions and halogen lights.
Enjoy the night, a leap-second will make June 30th, 2015 the longest day since 2012.
The images of the 2015 and 1 BC Venus-Jupiter conjunction were created by the author with the program Stellarium. Note that since zeroth century Romans hadn’t yet pilfered the number zero from their Middle Eastern neighbours, dates around the year zero are approximate.
Also ignore the American and Russian satellites appearing in the simulated image from 1 BCE. We’re quite certain that the Persian astrologers would not have seen these.
Author: Brian Nitz
Brian remembers when a single tear dredged up a nation's guilt. The tear belonged to an Italian-American actor known as Iron-Eyes Cody, the guilt was displaced from centuries of Native American mistreatment and redirected into a new environmental awareness. A 10-year-old Brian wondered, 'What are they... No, what are we doing to this country?' From a family of engineers, farmers and tinkerers Brian's father was a physics teacher. He remembers the day his father drove up to watch a coal power plant's new scrubbers turn smoke from dirty grey-back to steamy white. Surely technology would solve every problem. But then he noticed that breathing was difficult when the wind blew a certain way. While sailing, he often saw a yellow-brown line on the horizon. The stars were beginning to disappear. Gas mileage peaked when Reagan was still president. Solar panels installed in the 1970s were torn from roofs as they were no longer cost-effective to maintain. Racism, public policy and low oil prices transformed suburban life and cities began to sprawl out and absorb farmland. Brian only began to understand the root causes of "doughnut cities" when he moved to Ireland in 2001 and watched history repeat itself. Brian doesn't...
Very interesting. I’ve been observing these planets and thought they were Venus and Mars. That the larger light orb is Jupiter, despite its great distance from us, gives an indication of how large that planet really is.