Posted on 12/20/2007 3:32:58 PM PST by shield
Been thinking awhile of aquiring that...my old DOS Sky Globe just isn't quite the same under Win-95, 98, & now XP. Besides these new machines don't have 5 1/4" floppy drives! LOL
Some questions, just FReeper to FReeper:
Does it really perform as advertised; and, does it compensate for the change between Gregorian & Juian calandars, when going back that far; or is that built in? Does it even matter?
Since the Jewish calandar is so different than ours either way, and so many Biblical events are based upon it or on Jewish festivals, does that toss a monkey wrench into Starry Night's works for this kind of thing?
Thanks.
Oh I get it. The other guy had Revelations not Revelation. Well that WAS stupid wasn’t it?
Two passages in Matthew’s Gospel are overlooked in studies of this subject:
“Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared” (Mt 2:7) and
“Herod ... sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men.” (Mt 2: 16).
Thus, the wise men apparently told Herod, “The star appeared two years ago.”
That means it wasn’t a conjunction of planets, because they don’t last that long.
Whatever it was, I think it was something that would make more sense to astrologers (which the Magi were) than to astronomers.
For a similar but less encouraging story try Fredric Brown’s story “Answer”
I usually include "clues" so to give clear reference to the subtle or even some not so subtle points being made.
[wink wink] =D
bookmark for later
“The Star” made a real impact on me with regard to faith.
I imagined a sequel where, upon return to Earth, the information is revealed to the world. The evidence is broadcast with pictures of children who are now incinerated. Songs are written to these people who died so a light could guide some royalty to give gifts to a baby.
Religion is condemned globally. Those who attempt to defend faith are shunned and ridiculed. Science stands triumphant over God. Of course, politicians shun faith and go so far as to amend our Consitution to actually include the elimination of faith from our nation.
Man turns his back on God, rejecting the idea of a supreme being that could allow such an act to occur.
In the end of this sequel, our sun burps, showing the first definitive signs of dying.
It is at that fateful moment that man realizes why they did not find any evidence of faith on that distant planet.
The passages in the New Testament would seem to indicate that the “star” could not have been a comet or supernova. When the magi arrived in Jerusalem and told Herod why they were there, he had to consult with his scholars and have the “star” explained to him before he understood why this was such a big deal. That seems to indicate that the “star” was actually something in plain sight in the night sky, but which looked pretty ordinary to anyone who didn’t study astrology and understand exactly what they were looking at.
That means it wasn’t a conjunction of planets, because they don’t last that long.
But a series of conjunctions could occur over a period of time -- especially when you consider the apparent "retrograde motion" of the planets at various times during their orbits around the sun (as the movement of these planets around the sun appear to change relative to the movement of the earth).
I think you're much closer to the truth here than you realize.
The Old Testament is full of the promise of Christmas.
Isaiah in particular ‘looks forward’ to the nativity - “unto us a Child is born, a King is given. And He shall be named Wonderful, Councilor, the Everlasting King”, and so on. The Jews were emphatically looking for and expecting the coming of a Messiah.
So yes, there were a great many people who were looking for the coming of some great revelation. And not all of them were Jews.
Priceless!
I've got 3 or 4 astronomy softwares. 2 commercial and 2 freeware. I pretty much always use Starry Night. I still haven't figured everything out on it and have had it for over a year now.
and, does it compensate for the change between Gregorian & Juian calandars,
Haven't fiddled with it much but you can manually enter either calander date, or switch between the two. I assume that it compensates correctly when you switch around.
Not sure it really matters as long as you know the date your looking for in either format, you'd have to ask a real astronomer probably and not my back yard hackness.
what day of the week was August 12, 3 B.C?
I suppose that technically, 1BC was probably a leap year, so maybe it was really a Thursday.
That, and there are almost daily data updates available, if you like to keep current.
Any way, if you do go historical, it will still throw up satellites, if enabled...
BC? Iridium satellites? Sure...
BC? Iridium satellites? Sure...
LOL yea I caught that last night as one of em went across my field of view. Thought to myself "now that's not right"
Yes, I recall that is in something Graham Hancock wrote. A supernova that appeared in whichever constellation the Magi identified with the Jews would make sense -- except for the verse that says, "And lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was." (Mt 2:9) I don't understand that verse, from the point-of-view of either astrology or astronomy.
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