The birth and death of Jesus Christ: astronomical theories
1. The Star of Bethlehem
For some time there has been considerable speculation as to the identity of the Star of Bethlehem, visible over Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth. Patrick Moore, in Astronomy Now in 1990, claimed that it was unrelated to any known astronomical phenomenon [viz. historical records]. Credance to this line of arguement seems to have been given by the Star only appearing in St Matthew's Gospel.
Halley's Comet was ruled out, although, in the Letters to the Editor section of the Daily Telegraph, dated 24 December, 1998, he admitted that
"There are vague Chinese reports of comets at this time, but nothing definite."
In the Telegraph Magazine of 19 December 1998 the cover story was Mick Brown's article 'The Heavenly Debate'. Brown said that between 12 BC and 4 BC the Chinese recorded three comets, and the first has since been identified as Halley's Comet. Colin Humphreys, a Cambridge professor, favoured 5 BC, the second comet recorded by the Chinese, for Christ's birth. He put the date somewhere "between March 9 and May 4." Incidentally, the 1880 Oxford University Press edition of the King James Bible agrees with him! Comet Bradfield C/1975 V2 made a spectacular appearance at this time, its tail seemingly endless.
Humphreys, preferred the comet theory as they can be viewed for long periods. For example, Brown said Halley's comet "appeared for 56 days" in 12 BC. Comets can also seem to be slow-moving or apparently motionless. I remember looking night after night in 1997 at Hale-Bopp in the north-western sky.
St Matthew said the Star of Bethlehem "stood over where the young child was" [Matthew 1, v. 9].
In 1990 Moore also dismissed possible conjunctions between Jupiter and Venus. He said that the Three Magi, being "skilled star-gazers", would "certainly have recognised" such a phenomenon.
Eight years later he added
"If the Wise Men could be deceived by, say, Venus or Jupiter, they would hardly be very wise."
However, his letter does refer to a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 BC. Johannes Kepler [1571-1630], the famous German astronomer and natural philosopher, saw a conjunction of these planets in Pisces in 1603, and found three had occured in 7 BC. Following astronomical calculations he concluded that, in the words of Brown, "Christ had been conceived in 7 BC and born in 6 BC."
Brown's article gives the conjunction dates as 27 May, 6 October and 1 December, though St Matthew gave no dates. For Hughes and Seymour they were the most feasible explanation. David Hughes, planetary scientist and author of The Star of Bethlehem Mystery, and Percy Seymour, astronomer and author of The Birth of Christ, argued for a date of 15 September for Christ's birth. According to Hughes, the 6 October conjunction was seen by the Magi as they
"journeyed from their meeting with Herod in Jerusalem to Bethlehem. By this time Jesus had been born."
Extra weight to their theory appeared to have been leant by the Sun being in Virgo, i.e. the Son of God in the Virgin Mary. Hughes could see that the strongest argument against the conjunction idea was that "at their closest point, Jupiter would have been separated". But did this invalidate St Matthew's single star? He claimed not, as this would be imposing "an astronomical, rather than an astrological meaning to the event." Furthermore, he said that the two planets had royal significance with Jupiter being "the planet of kingship" and Saturn "the planet of the Jews". Above Jesus' head at His Crucifixion, in "Hebrew, Greek and Latin" [St John 20, v. 20], was a plaque declaring Him to be The King of the Jews. Of the four Gospel's only St John's has Pontius Pilate, the Governor of Judea, writing and placing the sign himself. His action earned him the priests' condemnation.
Patrick Moore, though, in 1990 and 1998 favoured a meteor or meteors as the Star of Bethlehem. He said that it, or they, had to be "something ... very brilliant, seen only by the Wise Men, unusual and quick-moving."
However, I agree with Humphreys that it was a comet, and they can move very quickly indeed! I decided to use the astronomy software RedShift 3 to see whether or not there were any comets visible in the area on 15 September 7 BC. The most likely candidate, I discovered, was the comet Blanpain D/1819 W1. Blanpain was seen at 6:45 am in the eastern sky. Two other comets were also in the skies at this time, Bradfield and Hartley 2, though both fainter than Blanpain. Hartley 2 was not bright enough to be visible in daylight, but Bradfield just may have been, as the length of its tail exceeded Blanpain's.
The traditional date for Christ's birth is 25 December 0 BC/AD, first assigned by a Roman monk called Dionysius Exiguous [Dennis the Little in English] in 525 AD. Unfortunately, when Dennis compiled a new calendar he miscalculated the reigns of Roman emperors, thereby placing the event in the wrong year. About 5 years or so too late in fact! Assuming he had been correct in his assumption, Christ would've been born in 1 BC or 1 AD as the concept of zero didn't exist in the West at the time. Incidentally, RedShift3 doesn't recognise the year 0. Either those who designed RedShift3 thought it never happened, or the programming couldn't accommodate the concept. Arabic numerals [0-9] were first introduced during the 12th century Crusades. In the Ancient World dating was usually reckoned from the first day of a new ruler's reign. Checking Redshift3, I discovered nothing portentious happened on the traditional day, anyway. Whatever, the date of His birth, it is clear that the year 2000 is a complete sham!
2. The Death of Christ
In Matthew 27, v. 45, we are told "from the sixth hour there was darkness all over the land unto the ninth hour." At the latter hour, Christ cried out to the heavens "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Shortly after He died a violent earthquake struck damaging the Temple of Jerusalem. I cannot see any link between the two events, though, as one is clearly cosmological, the other geophysical. The only phenomenon I can think of that could cause a three hour daytime darkness is a total solar eclipse. This is one abiding memory of the 11 August eclipse.
The only Gospel to omit the darkness is St John's. The traditional dates for the Crucifixion are 29 AD and 33 AD. I discovered from RedShift 3 there were solar eclipses in these years, both visible from Jerusalem. As 33 AD is the most common date used for Jesus' death, I analysed that eclipse first. It occured on 12 December, but was annular. In his New Atlas [pg. 36] Patrick Moore defined this type as occuring
"When the Moon is near ... its farthest distance from Earth it appears smaller than the Sun, so that if the alignment is perfect a ring or annulus of the Sun's photosphere is left showing around the dark disk of the Moon."
While in 33 AD, over Jerusalem, the Moon's shadow barely clipped the Sun, the 29 AD eclipse was total. At 10:40 am local time, the line of totality passed through Nicosia, Cyprus. In Damascus, Syria, the maximum eclipse was experienced at 10:48 am [Sun completely covered]. The Moon's shadow had first appeared on the solar disc at 9:18 am, and its transition ended at 12:38 pm. Over Jerusalem at 10:45 am, I would say there was a 97-98% eclipse. In Aleppo, Syria, at the same time, it was total. In 1999 Cornwall saw a climax of only just over 2 minutes [11:10-11:12 am BST], the longest duration being over central Hungary [2½ minutes]. In 29 AD, over Damascus, totality was about the same length. The reason for this became apparent when I started to plotting the eclipse's path on a map. I noticed that it was virtually identical to the 11 August one!! I found the similarity to the last solar eclipse of this millenium rather eerie... The 11 August track was about 60 miles [96.6 kilometres] wide. Moore said [New Atlas, pg. 36; the conversion and emphasis are mine] that
"The width of the track of totality can never be more than 272 kilometres [168.7 miles], and is generally less; totality can never last for more than 7 minutes 31 seconds, and often ... is only a minute or two."
I was also surprised to note from RedShift3 that, at the time of Christ's death, a comet was visible in broad daylight! Comet Bradfield C/1975 V2 was seen close to the eclipse. One argument that could be leveled against 29 AD is that none of the Gospels mentions a comet during the Crucifixion. But, in my defence, I would like to emphasise again that only the 29 AD eclipse was total.
Part 2
This article follows on from the second part of Birth & Death of Jesus Christ: Astronomical Theories. Using RedShift3, I concluded the three hour darkness during the Crucifixion was a total solar eclipse. On 24 November 29 AD, 10.45 am local time, day turned into night over Jerusalem. This corroborated part of the Gospels’ accounts. Here I shall look at more evidence suggesting the Crucifixion is “gospel truth”.
On 8 April 2000 the Daily Telegraph ran the first part of an extract from C.P. Thiede and Matthew d’Ancona’s The Quest for the True Cross. This fragment is in the Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme [“Holy Cross in Jerusalem”], Rome, an intriguing clue indeed! The ‘Titulus Crucis’, as its known, was discovered in 1492 behind a 5th century mosaic being restored. This depicted “the legendary discovery of the True Cross in Jerusalem by the Empress Helena”, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, in 326 AD. In The Son of God / The Sun God I discussed the Holy Cross “vision” that led to Constantine’s conversion. Now there’s a more substantial reason for it... .
D’Ancona says that, in 1998, when he and his co-author first saw the piece, it was with other relics
“in a small room ... now known as the Chapel of St Helena, where the Fourth Century stonework of the Empress’s palace can still be seen.”
Today it is kept “under lock and key in a sequestered side-chapel” of Santa Croce under close scrutiny. Why? The article suggests that it’s more than just the Church’s unease over the on-going controversy surrounding the Turin Shroud, particularly regarding its authenticity. In 1988
“radiocarbon dating showed that the Shroud ... could not be from the time of Jesus but ... of more recent origin.” [Dr L.A. Garza-Valdes, The DNA of God?, London,1998]
The Shroud has been copiously examined and analysed. The radiocarbon date of 1350 certainly fits its known history. In 1349 a French knight, Geoffrey de Charny, was “already in possession of the Shroud, which some believe he acquired in Constantinople”. (BTW, Constantinople was founded in 326 AD, the same year as Helena’s Cross discovery). This article says that although “there is a significant amount of evidence” for the Shroud before 1350, “much of it is...’circumstantial’ and remains...unproven.” Dr Valdes proved conclusively, though, that contamination by a ‘bioplastic coating’ of bacteria significantly skewed the dating. Radiocarbon dating is highly fallible. In this case, 1982 tests gave a range of 200-1000 AD, more recent ones 1000-1500 AD! Valdes said this was due to poorly-conducted and inconsistent sampling techniques.
Valdes’ final chapter deals with wood splinters in the Shroud. Fibres from the Shroud indicate “the horizontal beam of the Cross...was...oak” [pg. 195], though other alleged Holy Wood fragments are pine. These, he suggests, are fakes, and that the arm was “not a neatly cut rectangular beam of pine but a rough oak log” [ibid]. This is interesting as d’Ancona says the Santa Croce piece is of a walnut “common in the Near East in Jesus’ time.” Of all the Holy Wood, though, the evidence on Santa Croce’s relic is the most compelling:
- Incomplete text reading “Nazarene King” in Hebrew, Latin and Greek, as stated in the Gospel of St John. It was apparently written at speed by a Hebrew scribe taking dictation from a Roman, hence the oddly ordered wording on the piece.
- The plaque was painted white with red lettering, in accordance with Roman legal practice, and “such publicly displayed placards, the alba or tabulae dealbatae” of the condemned, detailing their crimes for all to see. For the Romans, Jesus’ were the most damning of all...
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, was founded by Helena over the traditional site of the Crucifixion. However, the Gospels place Golgotha beyond the city, “just outside the Damascus Gate ... by the highway that led to Samaria.” [A. and R. Eedie, ‘The Ark of the Covenant’ in The Prophetic Telegraph, January 1996].
Based on addresses given in 1995 by Jonathan Gray and Ron Wyatt, this article holds vital clues to the true location of Golgotha and Christ’s tomb.
In 1978 the Director of Antiquities in Jerusalem authorised Wyatt to excavate a place known as ‘Jeremiah’s Grotto’. The following year, following debris clearance, three 3 ft deep postholes were discovered in front of a cliff with “ledges cut into the rock” 12 ft up. The Santa Croce plaque was placed in the central position. In a cave below the hill, apparently unknown in 29 AD, and which, the Eedies claim, holds treasures from Solomon’s Temple, is a blood-stained crevice below the centre hole. It seems Christ bled onto the Ark of the Covenant! The DNA of a blood sample taken by Wyatt apparently gives proof of the Virgin birth! Unfortunately, blood taken from the Shroud was contaminated by the ‘bioplastic coating’. The figure’s horrific wounds are consistent with the torture and execution inflicted on Christ. [The nails were hammered through the wrists, not the hands.]
Near the Grotto is ‘Gordon’s Tomb’ found by General Gordon in 1882. The colossal stone once covering the entrance was housed in a chapel over the central posthole. A metal rod that “sealed” the tomb exhibits “all the signs of having been sheared off by some mighty force.” [A. and R. Eedie.] The location fits with St Paul’s conversion on the Damascus road, and that, under Roman law, burials had to be outside cities.
Though the understandably cagey Israeli authorities had both caves reburied and the site “kept secret”, maps hold intriguing clues. Two 13th century plans of Jerusalem show an orb-like Golgotha and Sepulchre within the western walls near the ‘David Gate’. Beyond lies a hill and ‘St Stephen’s Church’ [the Eedies said he was stoned near Christ’s burial place.] Reorientating these maps I found that the hill and church corresponded with Braun and Hogenburg’s placing of Golgotha and the Sepulchre to the north-west of Jerusalem!
