The Great Christ Comet (74 page)

58
 The AD 1006 supernova was visible at its brightest for 4 months in the spring before disappearing for a few months and then reappearing less bright in December for something like 2½ years. It was probably visible about 3 years after it was first observed (F. Richard Stephenson, “SN 1006: The Brightest Supernova,”
Astrophysics and Geophysics
51.5 [2010]: 27–32). According to Chinese records, the AD 1054 supernova lasted for 642 days. The AD 1572 supernova lasted well beyond 1 year, and the one in AD 1604 was tracked for a year by Kepler.

59
 Moore,
Star of Bethlehem
, 74.

60
 In astronomy a “magnitude” is a measurement of a star's apparent brightness. The scale is rather counterintuitive, since the brighter a star is, the smaller its magnitude value is (into minus numbers). A one unit increase is equivalent to a reduction of brightness by a factor of 2.51. A magnitude +1 star is 100 times brighter than a magnitude +6 star. A difference of 10 magnitudes would mean 10,000 times brighter; a difference of 15 magnitudes would mean 1,000,000 times brighter. The apparent magnitude of the Sun is -26.7, and that of the full Moon is -12.6; this means in effect that the Sun is 400,000 times brighter than the Moon.

61
 Ibid., 75.

62
 E. W. Maunder, “Star of the Magi,” in
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
, ed. James Orr, 5 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 1939), 5:2848–2849; idem,
The Astronomy of the Bible: An Elementary Commentary on the Astronomical References of Holy Scripture
(New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1908), 393–400; R. S. McIvor
, Star of Bethlehem, Star of Messiah
(Toronto: Overland, 1998); A. J. Morehouse, “The Christmas Star as a Supernova in Aquila,”
Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
72 (1978): 65–68; John Seymour and Michael W. Seymour, “The Historicity of the Gospels and Astronomical Events concerning the Birth of Christ,”
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society
19 (1978): 194–197.

63
 For example, James Mullaney, “The Star of Bethlehem,”
Science Digest
80 (December 1976): 61–65.

64
 Moore,
Star of Bethlehem
, 78.

65
 Guy Consolmagno, “Looking for the Star, or Coming to Adore?”
Thinking Faith
,
http://
www
.thinkingfaith
.org
/articles
/20101231
_1.htm
(last modified December 31, 2010).

66
 So, for example, Kidger,
Star of Bethlehem
,
234–246. We will take a closer look at the Chinese
hui-hsing
in chapter 6.

67
 See Donald K. Yeomans,
Comets: A Chronological History of Observation, Science, Myth, and Folklore
(New York: John Wiley, 1991), 361–362 and 367.

68
 In order to get around this problem, Kidger,
Star of Bethlehem
,
244–245, resorts to arguing that the Chinese data regarding the location of the
hui-hsing
is incorrect. He speculates that the nova actually appeared near the star Theta Aquilae, not far from Capricornus (246).

69
 So, for example, ibid., 281.

70
 Cf. Kenneth Boa and William Proctor,
The Return of the Star of Bethlehem: Comet, Stellar Explosion, or Signal from Above?
(New York: Doubleday, 1980), 81.

71
 Robert Lunsford,
Meteors and How to Observe Them
(New York: Springer, 2008), 2.

72
 Moore,
Star of Bethlehem
, 96.

73
 Ibid.

74
 Ibid.

75
 Cf. Kidger,
Star of Bethlehem
, 122.

76
 Moore,
Star of Bethlehem
, 99.

77
 Ibid., 98–99.

78
 Cf. Kidger,
Star of Bethlehem
, 122.

79
 Richard Coates, “A Linguist's Angle on the Star of Bethlehem,”
Astronomy and Geophysics
49.5 (October 2008): 27–32; and David Seargent,
Weird Astronomy
(New York: Springer, 2011), 276–281.

80
 Seargent,
Weird Astronomy
, 277.

81
 Ibid., 276–277.

82
 Ibid., 279.

83
 Ibid.

84
 Ibid., 278.

85
 Ibid., 280.

86
 Ibid., 279.

87
 Ibid.

88
 The medieval Jewish scholars Bar Hiyya and Ibn Ezra, who maintained that Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions played an important determining role in Israel's history, did not believe that Pisces was Israel's sign, but rather Aquarius, one of the houses of Saturn. Abarbanel (in his
Wells of Salvation
) did invent some feeble connections between Pisces and Israel (see Roy A. Rosenberg, “The Star of the Messiah: Reconsidered,”
Biblica
53 [1972]: 106–107; and Hughes,
Star of Bethlehem Mystery
, 212), but he did not regard it as Israel's sign.

89
 Kidger,
Star of Bethlehem
, 198–275.

90
 Ibid., 258–259, 264–265.

91
 Ibid., 216.

92
 Contra ibid., 254; also 257.

93
 Ernest L. Martin,
The Star of Bethlehem: The Star That Astonished the World
, 2nd ed. (Portland, OR: Associates for Scriptural Knowledge, 1996), available at
http://
www
.askelm
.com
/star.

94
 
http://
www
.askelm
.com
/star
/star004.htm
(accessed March 26, 2014).

95
 Ibid.

96
 Ibid.

97
 Ibid.

98
 Ibid.

99
 Ibid.

100
 Ibid.

101
 Ibid.

102
 Ibid.

103
 Ibid.

104
 
http://
www
.askelm
.com
/star
/star006.htm
(accessed March 26, 2014).

105
 Frederick A. Larson,
The Star of Bethlehem
, DVD, directed by Stephen Vidano (Santa Monica, CA: Mpower Pictures, 2006).

106
 Notably, the Magi did not set off back to their homeland as soon as Jupiter started its retrograde motion!

107
 
http://
www
.askelm
.com
/star
/star008.htm
(accessed March 26, 2014). Frederick Larson, in his
Star of Bethlehem
DVD, diverges from Martin at this point, suggesting that the Sun clothing Virgo and the Moon under her feet on September 11 of 3 BC simply marked Jesus's conception, with a very close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on June 17 of 2 BC occurring at the point of Jesus's birth. If conception occurred on September 11, 3 BC, and the period between conception and birth was an average 266 days, birth would be expected on June 4, 2 BC. Larson suggests that the Magi started planning to travel to Judea in September of 3 BC, but actually departed only when they witnessed the conjunction of June 17, 2 BC (Frederick A. Larson, “Westward Leading,”
http://
www
.bethlehem
star
.net
/starry
-dance/westward
-leading
[accessed March 26, 2014]). Larson subsequently states that, on December 25, 2 BC, Jupiter appeared to come to a halt relative to the fixed stars, because it was beginning retrograde motion. The Magi, making their way from Jerusalem to Bethlehem at this time, perceived that it was standing over the town where David had been born (Frederick A. Larson, “To Stop a Star,”
http://
www
.bethlehemstar
.net
/starry
-dance/to
-stop
-a
-star
[accessed March 26, 2014]). That, of course, would mean that the Magi's trip lasted an absurdly long time—over 6 months! Moreover, quite why the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in 2 BC, as stunning a sight as it undoubtedly was, would have been interpreted by Magi as a signal that the Messiah had been born, is unclear. Certainly there is no evidence that any ancient would have interpreted the conjunction to have this significance. Larson suggests that the Magi would have been surprised by the sight of Jupiter and Venus in conjunction. However, by the first-century BC astronomers were able to calculate the movements of the planets long in advance. As we have seen, the Babylonian astronomers even produced almanacs, containing their predictions for a given upcoming year. Therefore the Magi would not have been taken aback by the conjunction. As regards Jupiter's retrograde motion, that too would have been known about well before it happened. Further, a look at the Starry Night
®
Pro software that Larson uses reveals that the date when Jupiter “paused” was actually December 27/28, not, as Larson claims, December 25. In truth, the Magi would probably have been aware that Jupiter was still moving within the fixed stars and constellations on December 25.

108
 It is also worth pointing out that the third occultation occurred below the visible horizon.

109
 And, even if ancients could have regarded a planet's slow apparent loop motion in the sky as an act of “crowning,” Jupiter was hardly crowning Regulus. Regulus was, after all, nowhere near the middle of the loop of the planet's celestial motion.

110
 So, for example, David L. Turner,
Matthew
, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 80, 86; Craig Blomberg,
Matthew
, New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman, 1992), 65; cf. Hare,
Matthew
, 14; Luz,
Matthew 1–7
, 135.

111
 E.g., Ken Collins, “The Star of Bethlehem,”
http://
www
.kencollins
.com
/explanations
/why
-01.htm
(last modified March 23, 2013); and F. Richard Stephenson, as cited by Fiona Veitch Smith, “Did the Star of Bethlehem Really Exist?”
http://
www
.veitchsmith
.com
/2009
/12
/10
/did
-the
-star
-of
-Bethlehem
-really
-exist/
(posted December 10, 2009).

112
 Cf. Donald A. Carson, “Matthew,” in
Expositor's Bible Commentary
, rev. ed., ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 9 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 111.

113
 Cf. Molnar,
Star of Bethlehem
, 16.

114
 For example, Kenneth D. Boa, “The Star of Bethlehem” (ThM thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1972), 76.

115
 Dale C. Allison, “What Was the Star That Guided the Magi?,”
Bible Review
9.6 (1993): 24, and reprinted in
The First Christmas: The Story of Jesus' Birth in History and Tradition
, 25–31; cf. Michael J. Wilkins,
Matthew
, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 16; Craig Evans,
Matthew
, New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 52–53.

116
 Translation from M. B. Riddle, “Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour,” in
The Ante-Nicene Fathers
, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, 10 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 1979), 8:406.

117
 So, for example, Christopher Cullen, “Can We Find the Star of Bethlehem in Far Eastern Records?,”
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society
20 (1979): 153–159; Géza Vermes,
The Nativity: History and Legend
(London: Penguin, 2006), 22; and E. P. Sanders,
The Historical Figure of Jesus
(London: Penguin, 1993), 85.

118
 Cullen, “Can We Find the Star?,” 158.

119
 Brown,
Birth of the Messiah
, 188. Cf. Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan,
The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus's Birth
(New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 182 (who reject as implausible that the Star led the Magi westward, then southward, and finally pinpointed the exact place of Jesus's birth); Steve Moyise,
Was the Birth of Jesus according to Scripture?
(Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2013), 51–54, 90 (who objects to the idea that the “sat-nav” Star could have guided the Magi to Jerusalem, then south to Bethlehem, and then “hover[ed] over” and pointed out a particular house). Rudolf Schnackenburg,
The Gospel of Matthew
(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 2002), 22 (cf. 20), rejected the historicity of the Star because “stars do not move from north to southwest (the direction from Jerusalem to Bethlehem) and cannot indicate a precisely delimited location.”