Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him." -Matthew 2:2 Of the many stars of heaven, which was the original Star of Bethlehem?    There are many contenders for the claim of the original 'Star of Bethlehem'. The most obvious phenomena are shooting stars, comets, and nova, or possibly, a conjunction of planets. History records several of these celestial observations around the time in question.    There was a particularly bright comet that appeared in 44 BC, shortly after the death of Caesar. Shakespeare makes a reference to it in one of his plays. In 17 BC, there was another comet that was visible for an evening throughout the Mediterranean, and another appeared in 66 AD, shortly before Nero committed suicide. In the Orient, the Chinese give a lengthy description of Halley's Comet in 12 BC, although there is no Mediterranean mention of it. As far as Novae are concerned, there are only two listed around this period of time, in 134 BC and 173 AD. The problem with any of these phenomena, though, is that none of them are capable of coming to a halt.   And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising: it went forward and halted over the place where the child was."       -Matthew 2:10    On December 17th, 1603, Johannes Kepler was watching an alignment in the heavens; an approaching Jupiter Saturn conjunction in the sign Pisces. While later looking through his notes, Kepler remembered something he had read by the rabbinic writer Abarbanel, referring to an unusual influence which Jewish astrologers were said to have ascribed to this alignment. It stated that the Messiah would appear when there was a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Pisces. Kepler wondered if, in fact, this could have been the original Star of Bethlehem, and determined the positions of these two planets around the time of the birth of Christ. Since Herod died in 4 BC, history suggests that the Messiah must have been born before this date. Kepler calculated that the triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn (they aligned three times in the course of a year) occurred in 6 BC. It was, in fact, 7 BC. Kepler felt that this might have been the original 'star' signaling the birth of the Christ child; but which one of the three alignments? Because Kepler was both an astronomer and astrologer, some of his ideas were a little too radical for contemporary society. His musings were forgotten until the 19th century. It is now, however, one of the most popular contenders for the fabled 'Star of Bethlehem'.    It's obvious to any astrologer that a star 'moving forward and then halting' is retrograde motion; when planets, as seen from the Earth, appear to reverse direction. This motion is lost in heliocentric astronomy, where planets always move 'forward' around the Sun. Computers can now ascertain planetary motion with considerable mathematical accuracy. After the first Jupiter Saturn conjunction in 7 BC, Saturn went on to pivot within a degree and a half of the Midheaven over Bethlehem! That's within six minutes (out of 24 hours) of being exactly overhead at the birthplace at the time of the pivot, precisely as the text says! As a fraction, that would be the equivalent of one chance out of 240!   Why should it be an astrologer, rather than an astronomer, who makes this fairly simple connection? The answer is easy. Like our forbearers of old, we look at heaven with the same eye, seeing it in the same way. And besides...   We were the first to realize its implications. The Star of Bethlehem The Birth of the Messiah    The precision of Saturn's pivot over Bethlehem has a multitude of implications. First, it defines the initial Jupiter Saturn conjunction as the 'star' referenced in the Book of Matthew. Second, it marks the year and season (but not necessarily the day) in which Jesus was born. It's possible the Messiah was born under the exact Jupiter Saturn conjunction, but this is not specifically stated in the Bible. Third, it provides the precise day the Magi left Jerusalem and set out for Bethlehem, having just talked with King Herod. And fourth, it hints at the accuracy of ancient astronomy.    Saturn's pivot actually occurred just prior to sunrise, as the skies were beginning to lighten, just the time of day that people might set out for day journeys before the hot summer sun is high in the sky. Translate to: Français | Deutsch | Italiano | Português | Español If you're on a Mac,  and you're NOT using Netscape,  you're missing the special font,  by way of TrueDoc Dynamic Fonts,  as seen in this CLIP: So if you like the font, and you've got the time, download