SpaceX,
a commercial spacecraft company, will make history tomorrow if all goes as
planned. It will become the first private company to launch a commercially
designed and built spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Dragon
(a wonderful name with an even better logo, we think), should launch
tomorrow, May 19, at 4:55 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission
is primarily a safety test. NASA and SpaceX will both offer live coverage of the
launch.
| |||
Read more from SpaceX.
Read the official Dragon press kit.
Read the original story
from SPACE.com.
Read
the Wetherbee Sky Watcher.
| |||
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Friday, May 18, 2012
Dragon takes flight tomorrow! 05.18.12
Saturday, February 18, 2012
A Shot in the Dark, 01.18.12
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How do you look for something if you do not know what to look for? This is a challenge being laughed in the face by scientists at the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics in Chicago. The team there will be spending the next five years trying to answer some of the biggest questions about the three main problems in astronomy: dark energy, dark matter, and cosmic inflation.
Why try to find out about these things, you ask? Well, based on a dizzying amount of calculations done by astronomers and other scientists through the decades, it was determined that there is a lot more “stuff” in outer space than what can be seen. What is more, some of those scientists have a sneaking suspicion that the sleuths they are looking for do “not consist of quarks, neutrons, or protons.” A little review here: neutrons and protons are both parts of atoms, and quarks are the things that make up the parts of atoms. Basically, the scientists were looking for things so small that they could not be seen with the naked eye, but now they are beginning to think that their best guesses were not on track anyway.
Astronomers also know the Big Bang Theory leaves something to be desired as it has no answer for cosmic inflation. So, hopefully getting some more answers could even change what astronomers think about the Big Bang Theory itself.
So, when someone does find the answer, rest assured it will be something never before seen in history.
Information credit: The University of Chicago.
Read more about quarks: The Particle Adventure.
Want to talk with us about discoveries like this? Be sure to come to our MARCH 20th Astronomy Series show in the Wetherbee Planetarium.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Star of Bethlehem, 12.20.11
Originally published December 20, 2010
Throughout time, one object in astronomy has continually puzzled astronomers. Only one source in all of history has recorded it, yet it has fascinated the faithful and obsessed the scientific. Like history, astronomy is not repeatable, and the truth of the matter can only be postulated from the evidence that remains. The evidence left for scientists to mull over, in this case, is everywhere but on Earth, and the mystery is a “star” that is no more. We are, of course, speaking of the Star of Bethlehem, mentioned in manuscripts included in the Christian Bible, and supposedly occurred over 2,000 years ago in what we now refer to as the Middle East, west of the Mesopotamian region.
Let us establish the context first. As we mentioned before, the Christian Bible contains the only written records of the Star. While there are multiple allusions to a star throughout the Scriptures, there is one section in particular that directly mentions the Star in question: Matthew, chapter 2.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is e that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship him”. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, “in Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, For out of thee shall come a Governor; that shall rule my people Israel.” Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. And when they heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. –Matthew 2:1-10The wise men, or magi, were elite scholars of their day who practically knew the night sky and the movements of the objects in our solar system (that they could see) like the backs of their hands. Most likely from ancient Babylon, the magi used the skies to help them establish a calendar, know when to plant and harvest crops, how to plot navigation courses using them as guides, and more pertinent to this case, how to make predications or divinations about their current events.
Why would an elite group of astrologers (astronomy, the scientific study of space, had its roots in and was still closely entwined in astrology—the belief that our lives on earth are affected by the movements of objects in space—at this point, and would not emerge as a respected science for several hundreds of years) care about the birth of a poor Jewish boy several hundreds of miles away? The answer can be inferred from the Biblical book of Daniel. Hundreds of years prior, the astrologers were still busy reading the heavens and, more importantly, attempting to make predications based on the movements of what they saw. Whether he was attempting to test the wise men or merely gain a clear answer is not certain, but the Babylonian king at the time, Nebuchadnezzar, demanded of the wise men that they interpret his dream. Realizing their inability to do so using on astrology, they had to admit to the king that all they had been telling the king before was a bunch of lies. In a rage, the king commanded they all be put to death. Daniel,
a young Jewish noble who had been brought captive to Babylon intervened and asked the king to give him time. According to the Bible, Daniel prayed to God for an answer, he pleased the king when he provided an interpretation of the dream, and the king made Daniel the ruler of the wise men. It is more than plausible that Daniel would have shared the Jewish prophecies with the wise men about a Messiah, which is probably why they were able to quote the prophecy recorded in the book of Isaiah to king Herod when they arrived near Bethlehem hundreds of years later seeking the Christ child.
It is also important to note, concerning the magi, that it was the significance they attributed to the sign that they sought, not so much the object itself that fascinated them. Most ancient cultures had their own sect of sky watchers (even the general population, on average, had a working familiarity with the night sky). That they had their own, unique significance for whatever it was they had seen is evident in the surprise and dismay that Matthew recorded the king Herod and his scribes having. Had they missed something important? Had they seen the sign and not even recognized it? One can only imagine the hurried conversation that took place between the Jewish scholars and their king before these foreign magi regarding a sign in their own, native skies.
So we know at least that the magi were expecting some sort of sign to herald the coming of the Messiah. Finding Him, though, was another story entirely. The journey from Babylon, where they most likely began, to Jerusalem, where they met with king Herod, as the crow flies, is a journey of a little over 400 miles. That, of course, would take the wise men straight across the middle of a barren wasteland. More than likely, they would have taken a more northerly course following along the Euphrates and then descending through Judaea, stopping from town to town along their way to Jerusalem. This would have been an even longer course. Granted, it is plausible that they could have gone straight through the desert if they had wished—there is no way to know for sure which route they took, whether just a really long route, or a much longer, really long route. The point of this is that it would have taken them several weeks, even if riding, to make it to Jerusalem. That is a very long amount of time to be “following” an object in the night sky.
So what was the star that sent wise men across the desert to bring gifts and worship the Christ child? Let us examine the candidates from an astronomical point of view. From supernovas to UFO’s, comets, a shooting star, supernovas, and a planetary conjunction, none of these fit exactly.
We can dismiss “shooting stars” without a chance. “Shooting stars” are meteors that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere as they fly past our planet. They only last the briefest of moments, and they fall at regular times throughout the year.There would have been nothing remarkable or noteworthy to the magi about just another meteor, or even another meteor shower. Small and only a few seconds in duration each, they were just another sparkly, streaking speck in the sky.
Supernovas can probably be disqualified as well. Supernovas are stars that, for all intents and purposes, explode and end their lives in violent chaos, creating a black hole and emitting a burst of light hundreds of times their normal brightness. While the light from a supernova would have lasted 3-5 weeks at best, the wise men would have had to have made record time to make it to Jerusalem before the light faded. Supernovas also leave behind trace dust clouds that can be seen today with special astronomy equipment, and also many of them have been recorded in history. No mention was made in history of a supernova occurring at this time. The Chinese called them guess stars, and astronomer Tycho Brahe in 1572 made the first scientific records of supernova behavior. The supernova of 1054 AD was recorded by ancient peoples around the world, and is now known as the Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus the bull. No supernovas are recorded in the time frame surrounding the period during which Jesus was born (somewhere between 8 BC and 4 AD), but then again it is very likely that not all novas and supernovas are recorded. Astronomers have recently discovered that a supernova occurred about 400 years ago that would have been visible in Earth’s southern hemisphere, yet it somehow went without being recorded by a single historian (that they know of). In a period so plentiful with scholars and with such a wide network of communication provided by the Roman Empire at the time, it is curious that no written record of a supernova remains. The absolute lack of such a record makes us more likely to lean towards no such observation having been made in the first place.
As for a comet, that theory is laughable. In this day and age, comets are regarded as something unique and special, especially since some comets only pass by earth once and are never to be seen again. Just a few hundred years ago, however, comets were regarded as something to be feared. How much more so for people thousands of years ago who lacked equipment for their closer observation? Comets were often considered heralds of doom and destruction. Even our own Nelson Tift, one of the founders of Albany, GA, had the opportunity to observe a comet in 1835 and recorded some of the reactions of people around the town in his personal diary. He writes:
I saw the comet this evening about 7 o’clock, I think about west 45 degrees above the horizon…it was asserted by some that it would some so near the earth as to set it on fire! & by others that they would come in contact!If people not even 200 years ago were terrified at the sight of a comet, how much more might have been the people thousands of years ago. Least of all, comets have tails. The wise men referred to the object they saw as a star, and stars simply do not have tails.
Now for the most plausible theory, but by no means a sure bet: a planetary conjunction. A planetary conjunction including Jupiter and Saturn, next to the star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion would have been highly steeped in symbolism for the magi. The three of them also would have made a great show, but a conjunction is extremely predictable and the wise men, being very familiar with the course of the planets, would have known it was coming for months. Granted, Jupiter is considered a kingly planet and Regulus, the star, is also associated with kings, but it is a far stretch of interpretation to bring the Greek word used in Matthew chapter 2 for the star, astare’, to mean planet. Several months later the planet Venus and the star Regulus overlap, but that is still just a conjunction. In fact, just to have a better understanding of just what the Matthew meant when he recorded his Gospel 2,000 years ago, let us examine the word he used for “star.” When the book was first written, it was recorded in an ancient Greek dialect. Could something have been lost in translation?
The word he used was άστήρ, which pronunciation we mentioned before is astare’. According to the New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, a long respected resource by Bible scholars, the Greek word can either literally or figuratively mean a star. According to E.W. Bullinger’s Critical Lexicon of the English and Greek New Testment, there is a very slim chance the word could also mean planet or even meteor, but more digging into the roots of the word itself back in Strong’s lends more insight. According to Strong’s, astare’ comes from the roots of another Greek word, strōnnumi, which relates the idea of “strewing” or spreading something out in a space, which certainly brings up images of the stars laid out across the heavens. That word, in turn, is connected to another word, stĕrĕŏs, which have more connotations of something that is “stedfast, strong,” or “sure.” So, now we know that whatever the star was, we can rest assured it was not some fleeting or flickering object. It was solidly there.
Stĕrĕŏs, Strong’s claims, is connected to another word, histēmi, and its primary word staō, which can be used “in various applications” either literally or figuratively, to mean bide or appoint, among other things.
The last stop is tithēmi, a word tied to histēmi, from the primary word thĕō, with the widest application as an “upright and active position” of placing something. A curious ending, indeed. It would seem that the etymological trail of the word used for “star” in the book of Matthew, at its deepest roots, means that the “star” really was some object that was deliberately placed, as a solid, enduring object, for a particular appointment. This is what the etymology of that particular word for “star” tells us. Science may lead us to believe otherwise.
Despite all of the theories and conjecture, there really is no way to know for sure. Anything is possible, though, whether you favor a scientific theory or just choose to believe in a miracle. One fact
does remain, though: the star has stood for over 2,000 years as a symbol of the coming of the Messiah to people worldwide. That the imagery of stars to Christmas and the subsequent importance that is placed on stars as shining beacons of hope and light in a dark world is undeniable. Perhaps the star is meant to remain a mystery, symbolic in its very nature of the paradox that was the Christ child Jesus, a person fully God yet fully man, ruler of the world born to a poor teenage girl and a carpenter in a stable among the filth and stench of pack animals. A beacon of hope that defies all reason, it is only fitting that it ushered in the single most controversial figure in history.
Information credit: The Bible, E.W. Bullinger (1999), the New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (2003).
Friday, November 4, 2011
Telescope solves ancient historical mystery, 10.28.11
Astronomers recently used NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to unravel a 2,000 year old mystery. In 185 A.D., Chinese sky watchers made note of something they noticed in the sky. They called it a “guest star” at the time, and continued to make notation of its visibility for about the next 8 months. Astronomers had had ideas about what the object could have been, but now using the power of science, they can peer into the depths of space in the area the Chinese had noted and see what may be left over from this mysterious “guest star.” Their findings? A supernova.
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA. |
With more observation they discovered the star actually exploded inside of some sort of shell of open space. This allowed the material that was ejected from the star as it exploded to travel unimpeded for great distances, much further than it would have traveled before. At any rate, it is an impressive sight. We can only wonder what the Chinese would have said about their “guest star” all those years ago if they could have seen it up close.
Credit: NASA.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Solar storms are growing threat: emergency backup plan neeeded now, 02.21.11
Last Monday, February 14, one of the largest solar storms in over a decade took place. It knocked out radio transmissions in the Western Pacific, parts of Asia, and even caused some polar flights to reroute for the sake of regaining communications. It could have been much worse, though, say space weather experts. The solar flare in this picture took place last September.
The sun goes through a weather cycle about every 11 years, and it was long overdue to begin its more active phases. It is difficult to say for sure when to expect the next big burst of solar activity. Experts guesstimate that it will probably reach its peak in 2013 or 2014.
One way solar storms can occur is a solar flare, a large burst of radiation that sends photons careening towards Earth. They are categorized according to their intensity: C, M, and X, with the latter being the most severe. The storm of last Monday was an X 2.2, which is strong, but by no means the strongest on record. In 1859, a solar flare was recorded that was intense enough to knock out telegraph signals and even spark fires in electrical lines, but it is difficult to say exactly how strong that particular flare was; estimates are about 30 times more powerful than Monday’s storm.
Had the same magnitude of storm that occurred in 1859 happened in this day and age, though, experts say the results would be devastating. Ships and planes would be “blind” as their communications and GPS devices would go down, cell phones, radio, and televisions would no longer work… the list of damages goes on and on. Experts estimate that the initial damages would be about $2 trillion, with on-going and clean up costs being even more. For perspective, let us remind you that the damages caused by Hurricane Katrina ranged from $80-$125 billion.
According to Helena Lindberg of the Swedish Civil Contigencies Agency, the world must “start sharing expertise and connecting our systems for warning and for response.” Waiting until everything is down is too late to take action. Imagine what happens when everything that relies on a radio or satellite is suddenly “dead” or malfunctioning. They may be 93 million miles away, but with our current technology, solar storms affect us in as little as eight minutes.
Credit: Spaceweather.com.
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| Image credit: NASA. |
One way solar storms can occur is a solar flare, a large burst of radiation that sends photons careening towards Earth. They are categorized according to their intensity: C, M, and X, with the latter being the most severe. The storm of last Monday was an X 2.2, which is strong, but by no means the strongest on record. In 1859, a solar flare was recorded that was intense enough to knock out telegraph signals and even spark fires in electrical lines, but it is difficult to say exactly how strong that particular flare was; estimates are about 30 times more powerful than Monday’s storm.
Had the same magnitude of storm that occurred in 1859 happened in this day and age, though, experts say the results would be devastating. Ships and planes would be “blind” as their communications and GPS devices would go down, cell phones, radio, and televisions would no longer work… the list of damages goes on and on. Experts estimate that the initial damages would be about $2 trillion, with on-going and clean up costs being even more. For perspective, let us remind you that the damages caused by Hurricane Katrina ranged from $80-$125 billion.
According to Helena Lindberg of the Swedish Civil Contigencies Agency, the world must “start sharing expertise and connecting our systems for warning and for response.” Waiting until everything is down is too late to take action. Imagine what happens when everything that relies on a radio or satellite is suddenly “dead” or malfunctioning. They may be 93 million miles away, but with our current technology, solar storms affect us in as little as eight minutes.
Credit: Spaceweather.com.
Glancing back at the space shuttles, 02.09.11
In light of the recent anniversary of the loss of the shuttle and Challenger crew, this week we decided to take a look backwards at the path that led to the use of the space shuttles.
Testing of the newest and best fliers began shortly after the end of World War II in the deserts of California. From jets to rockets, the tests were greatly spurred on by the competition against the Soviet Union in the growth of the Cold War.
Testing of the newest and best fliers began shortly after the end of World War II in the deserts of California. From jets to rockets, the tests were greatly spurred on by the competition against the Soviet Union in the growth of the Cold War.
The possibilities for space flight began to emerge in the late 1940s when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the fist Bell X-1 rocket. The success of Yeager’s flight brought enthusiasm for the X-series of rocket planes. Among the X-series was the X-15, which broke all altitude records in the early 1960s. The data and experience gathered by its flight made it possible for the flight engineers to realize what was needed to accommodate flight both in outer space and closer within Earth’s atmosphere.
The Cold War continued to motivate the United States to work faster. It was the driving force behind the first lunar walk, made in 1969 by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
The problem with those early spacecrafts, however, was that they could only be used once. They could not be “flown” back to Earth, but rather were guided as much as possible while in space to put them on a trajectory that sent them crashing into the ocean. What was needed was a controllable spacecraft that could withstand the extremes of being in space, and also the stress of takeoff and reentry. Proper lifting mechanisms began testing in the 1960s. The hybrid that was ultimately created optimized “all phases of flight—subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic, including spacecraft reentry.”
The shuttle program became official in 1969 in the wake of Apollo (not a shuttle). In 1981, the first true space shuttle launched on April 12. STS-1 was the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia.
Through the recent command given for the retirement of the space shuttles (the last flight is scheduled in May), any flights to the international space station must be made on Russian vehicles. There are plans to continue space travel, though. We know the goals for continued flight are in the near decades, but what remains to be seen are the changes that will be made with the advent of the new wave of space travel. Will the new “shuttles” be as alien and revolutionary as their original, the Columbia? Many Americans remember each new milestone, each new test and the feelings of pride in the national space program that they brought. Hopefully that sentiment will be able to continue, no matter what changes are made!
Credit: SPACE.com.
Friday, April 8, 2011
The Star of Bethlehem, 12.20.10
Throughout time, one object in astronomy has continually puzzled astronomers. Only one source in all of history has recorded it, yet it has fascinated the faithful and obsessed the scientific. Like history, astronomy is not repeatable, and the truth of the matter can only be postulated from the evidence that remains. The evidence left for scientists to mull over, in this case, is everywhere but on Earth, and the mystery is a “star” that is no more. We are, of course, speaking of the Star of Bethlehem, mentioned in manuscripts included in the Christian Bible, and supposedly occurred over 2,000 years ago in what we now refer to as the Middle East, west of the Mesopotamian region.
Let us establish the context first. As we mentioned before, the Christian Bible contains the only written records of the Star. While there are multiple allusions to a star throughout the Scriptures, there is one section in particular that directly mentions the Star in question: Matthew, chapter 2.
Why would an elite group of astrologers (astronomy, the scientific study of space, had its roots in and was still closely entwined in astrology—the belief that our lives on earth are affected by the movements of objects in space—at this point, and would not emerge as a respected science for several hundreds of years) care about the birth of a poor Jewish boy several hundreds of miles away? The answer can be inferred from the Biblical book of Daniel. Hundreds of years prior, the astrologers were still busy reading the heavens and, more importantly, attempting to make predications based on the movements of what they saw. Whether he was attempting to test the wise men or merely gain a clear answer is not certain, but the Babylonian king at the time, Nebuchadnezzar, demanded of the wise men that they interpret his dream. Realizing their inability to do so using on astrology, they had to admit to the king that all they had been telling the king before was a bunch of lies. In a rage, the king commanded they all be put to death. Daniel, a young Jewish noble who had been brought captive to Babylon intervened and asked the king to give him time. According to the Bible, Daniel prayed to God for an answer, he pleased the king when he provided an interpretation of the dream, and the king made Daniel the ruler of the wise men. It is more than plausible that Daniel would have shared the Jewish prophecies with the wise men about a Messiah, which is probably why they were able to quote the prophecy recorded in the book of Isaiah to king Herod when they arrived near Bethlehem hundreds of years later seeking the Christ child.
It is also important to note, concerning the magi, that it was the significance they attributed to the sign that they sought, not so much the object itself that fascinated them. Most ancient cultures had their own sect of sky watchers (even the general population, on average, had a working familiarity with the night sky). That they had their own, unique significance for whatever it was they had seen is evident in the surprise and dismay that Matthew recorded the king Herod and his scribes having. Had they missed something important? Had they seen the sign and not even recognized it? One can only imagine the hurried conversation that took place between the Jewish scholars and their king before these foreign magi regarding a sign in their own, native skies.
So we know at least that the magi were expecting some sort of sign to herald the coming of the Messiah. Finding Him, though, was another story entirely. The journey from Babylon, where they most likely began, to Jerusalem, where they met with king Herod, as the crow flies, is a journey of a little over 400 miles. That, of course, would take the wise men straight across the middle of a barren wasteland. More than likely, they would have taken a more northerly course following along the Euphrates and then descending through Judaea, stopping from town to town along their way to Jerusalem. This would have been an even longer course. Granted, it is plausible that they could have gone straight through the desert if they had wished—there is no way to know for sure which route they took, whether just a really long route, or a much longer, really long route. The point of this is that it would have taken them several weeks, even if riding, to make it to Jerusalem. That is a very long amount of time to be “following” an object in the night sky.
So what was the star that sent wise men across the desert to bring gifts and worship the Christ child? Let us examine the candidates from an astronomical point of view. From supernovas to UFO’s, comets, a shooting star, supernovas, and a planetary conjunction, none of these fit exactly.
We can dismiss “shooting stars” without a chance. “Shooting stars” are meteors that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere as they fly past our planet. They only last the briefest of moments, and they fall at regular times throughout the year. There would have been nothing remarkable or noteworthy to the magi about just another meteor, or even another meteor shower. Small and only a few seconds in duration each, they were just another sparkly, streaking speck in the sky.
Supernovas can probably be disqualified as well. Supernovas are stars that, for all intents and purposes, explode and end their lives in violent chaos, creating a black hole and emitting a burst of light hundreds of times their normal brightness. While the light from a supernova would have lasted 3-5 weeks at best, the wise men would have had to have made record time to make it to Jerusalem before the light faded. Supernovas also leave behind trace dust clouds that can be seen today with special astronomy equipment, and also many of them have been recorded in history. No mention was made in history of a supernova occurring at this time. The Chinese called them guess stars, and astronomer Tycho Brahe in 1572 made the first scientific records of supernova behavior. The supernova of 1054 AD was recorded by ancient peoples around the world, and is now known as the Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus the bull. No supernovas are recorded in the time frame surrounding the period during which Jesus was born (somewhere between 8 BC and 4 AD), but then again it is very likely that not all novas and supernovas are recorded. Astronomers have recently discovered that a supernova occurred about 400 years ago that would have been visible in Earth’s southern hemisphere, yet it somehow went without being recorded by a single historian (that they know of). In a period so plentiful with scholars and with such a wide network of communication provided by the Roman Empire at the time, it is curious that no written record of a supernova remains. The absolute lack of such a record makes us more likely to lean towards no such observation having been made in the first place.
As for a comet, that theory is laughable. In this day and age, comets are regarded as something unique and special, especially since some comets only pass by earth once and are never to be seen again. Just a few hundred years ago, however, comets were regarded as something to be feared. How much more so for people thousands of years ago who lacked equipment for their closer observation? Comets were often considered heralds of doom and destruction. Even our own Nelson Tift, one of the founders of Albany, GA, had the opportunity to observe a comet in 1835 and recorded some of the reactions of people around the town in his personal diary. He writes:
Now for the most plausible theory, but by no means a sure bet: a planetary conjunction. A planetary conjunction including Jupiter and Saturn, next to the star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion would have been highly steeped in symbolism for the magi. The three of them also would have made a great show, but a conjunction is extremely predictable and the wise men, being very familiar with the course of the planets, would have known it was coming for months. Granted, Jupiter is considered a kingly planet and Regulus, the star, is also associated with kings, but it is a far stretch of interpretation to bring the Greek word used in Matthew chapter 2 for the star, astare’, to mean planet. Several months later the planet Venus and the star Regulus overlap, but that is still just a conjunction.
In fact, just to have a better understanding of just what the Matthew meant when he recorded his Gospel 2,000 years ago, let us examine the word he used for “star.” When the book was first written, it was recorded in an ancient Greek dialect. Could something have been lost in translation?
The word he used was άστήρ, which pronunciation we mentioned before is astare’. According to the New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, a long respected resource by Bible scholars, the Greek word can either literally or figuratively mean a star. According to E.W. Bullinger’s Critical Lexicon of the English and Greek New Testment, there is a very slim chance the word could also mean planet or even meteor, but more digging into the roots of the word itself back in Strong’s lends more insight. According to Strong’s, astare’ comes from the roots of another Greek word, strōnnumi, which relates the idea of “strewing” or spreading something out in a space, which certainly brings up images of the stars laid out across the heavens. That word, in turn, is connected to another word, stĕrĕŏs, which have more connotations of something that is “stedfast, strong,” or “sure.” So, now we know that whatever the star was, we can rest assured it was not some fleeting or flickering object. It was solidly there.
Stĕrĕŏs, Strong’s claims, is connected to another word, histēmi, and its primary word staō, which can be used “in various applications” either literally or figuratively, to mean bide or appoint, among other things.
The last stop is tithēmi, a word tied to histēmi, from the primary word thĕō, with the widest application as an “upright and active position” of placing something. A curious ending, indeed. It would seem that the etymological trail of the word used for “star” in the book of Matthew, at its deepest roots, means that the “star” really was some object that was deliberately placed, as a solid, enduring object, for a particular appointment. This is what the etymology of that particular word for “star” tells us. Science may lead us to believe otherwise.
Despite all of the theories and conjecture, there really is no way to know for sure. Anything is possible, though, whether you favor a scientific theory or just choose to believe in a miracle. One fact does remain, though: the star has stood for over 2,000 years as a symbol of the coming of the Messiah to people worldwide. That the imagery of stars to Christmas and the subsequent importance that is placed on stars as shining beacons of hope and light in a dark world is undeniable. Perhaps the star is meant to remain a mystery, symbolic in its very nature of the paradox that was the Christ child Jesus, a person fully God yet fully man, ruler of the world born to a poor teenage girl and a carpenter in a stable among the filth and stench of pack animals. A beacon of hope that defies all reason, it is only fitting that it ushered in the single most controversial figure in history.
Credit: The Bible, E.W. Bullinger (1999), the New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (2003).
Let us establish the context first. As we mentioned before, the Christian Bible contains the only written records of the Star. While there are multiple allusions to a star throughout the Scriptures, there is one section in particular that directly mentions the Star in question: Matthew, chapter 2.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is e that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship him”. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, “in Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, For out of thee shall come a Governor; that shall rule my people Israel.” Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. And when they heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. –Matthew 2:1-10The wise men, or magi, were elite scholars of their day who practically knew the night sky and the movements of the objects in our solar system (that they could see) like the backs of their hands. Most likely from ancient Babylon, the magi used the skies to help them establish a calendar, know when to plant and harvest crops, how to plot navigation courses using them as guides, and more pertinent to this case, how to make predications or divinations about their current events.
Why would an elite group of astrologers (astronomy, the scientific study of space, had its roots in and was still closely entwined in astrology—the belief that our lives on earth are affected by the movements of objects in space—at this point, and would not emerge as a respected science for several hundreds of years) care about the birth of a poor Jewish boy several hundreds of miles away? The answer can be inferred from the Biblical book of Daniel. Hundreds of years prior, the astrologers were still busy reading the heavens and, more importantly, attempting to make predications based on the movements of what they saw. Whether he was attempting to test the wise men or merely gain a clear answer is not certain, but the Babylonian king at the time, Nebuchadnezzar, demanded of the wise men that they interpret his dream. Realizing their inability to do so using on astrology, they had to admit to the king that all they had been telling the king before was a bunch of lies. In a rage, the king commanded they all be put to death. Daniel, a young Jewish noble who had been brought captive to Babylon intervened and asked the king to give him time. According to the Bible, Daniel prayed to God for an answer, he pleased the king when he provided an interpretation of the dream, and the king made Daniel the ruler of the wise men. It is more than plausible that Daniel would have shared the Jewish prophecies with the wise men about a Messiah, which is probably why they were able to quote the prophecy recorded in the book of Isaiah to king Herod when they arrived near Bethlehem hundreds of years later seeking the Christ child.
It is also important to note, concerning the magi, that it was the significance they attributed to the sign that they sought, not so much the object itself that fascinated them. Most ancient cultures had their own sect of sky watchers (even the general population, on average, had a working familiarity with the night sky). That they had their own, unique significance for whatever it was they had seen is evident in the surprise and dismay that Matthew recorded the king Herod and his scribes having. Had they missed something important? Had they seen the sign and not even recognized it? One can only imagine the hurried conversation that took place between the Jewish scholars and their king before these foreign magi regarding a sign in their own, native skies.
So we know at least that the magi were expecting some sort of sign to herald the coming of the Messiah. Finding Him, though, was another story entirely. The journey from Babylon, where they most likely began, to Jerusalem, where they met with king Herod, as the crow flies, is a journey of a little over 400 miles. That, of course, would take the wise men straight across the middle of a barren wasteland. More than likely, they would have taken a more northerly course following along the Euphrates and then descending through Judaea, stopping from town to town along their way to Jerusalem. This would have been an even longer course. Granted, it is plausible that they could have gone straight through the desert if they had wished—there is no way to know for sure which route they took, whether just a really long route, or a much longer, really long route. The point of this is that it would have taken them several weeks, even if riding, to make it to Jerusalem. That is a very long amount of time to be “following” an object in the night sky.
So what was the star that sent wise men across the desert to bring gifts and worship the Christ child? Let us examine the candidates from an astronomical point of view. From supernovas to UFO’s, comets, a shooting star, supernovas, and a planetary conjunction, none of these fit exactly.
We can dismiss “shooting stars” without a chance. “Shooting stars” are meteors that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere as they fly past our planet. They only last the briefest of moments, and they fall at regular times throughout the year. There would have been nothing remarkable or noteworthy to the magi about just another meteor, or even another meteor shower. Small and only a few seconds in duration each, they were just another sparkly, streaking speck in the sky.
Supernovas can probably be disqualified as well. Supernovas are stars that, for all intents and purposes, explode and end their lives in violent chaos, creating a black hole and emitting a burst of light hundreds of times their normal brightness. While the light from a supernova would have lasted 3-5 weeks at best, the wise men would have had to have made record time to make it to Jerusalem before the light faded. Supernovas also leave behind trace dust clouds that can be seen today with special astronomy equipment, and also many of them have been recorded in history. No mention was made in history of a supernova occurring at this time. The Chinese called them guess stars, and astronomer Tycho Brahe in 1572 made the first scientific records of supernova behavior. The supernova of 1054 AD was recorded by ancient peoples around the world, and is now known as the Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus the bull. No supernovas are recorded in the time frame surrounding the period during which Jesus was born (somewhere between 8 BC and 4 AD), but then again it is very likely that not all novas and supernovas are recorded. Astronomers have recently discovered that a supernova occurred about 400 years ago that would have been visible in Earth’s southern hemisphere, yet it somehow went without being recorded by a single historian (that they know of). In a period so plentiful with scholars and with such a wide network of communication provided by the Roman Empire at the time, it is curious that no written record of a supernova remains. The absolute lack of such a record makes us more likely to lean towards no such observation having been made in the first place.
As for a comet, that theory is laughable. In this day and age, comets are regarded as something unique and special, especially since some comets only pass by earth once and are never to be seen again. Just a few hundred years ago, however, comets were regarded as something to be feared. How much more so for people thousands of years ago who lacked equipment for their closer observation? Comets were often considered heralds of doom and destruction. Even our own Nelson Tift, one of the founders of Albany, GA, had the opportunity to observe a comet in 1835 and recorded some of the reactions of people around the town in his personal diary. He writes:
I saw the comet this evening about 7 o’clock, I think about west 45 degrees above the horizon…it was asserted by some that it would some so near the earth as to set it on fire! & by others that they would come in contact!If people not even 200 years ago were terrified at the sight of a comet, how much more might have been the people thousands of years ago. Least of all, comets have tails. The wise men referred to the object they saw as a star, and stars simply do not have tails.
Now for the most plausible theory, but by no means a sure bet: a planetary conjunction. A planetary conjunction including Jupiter and Saturn, next to the star Regulus in the constellation Leo the lion would have been highly steeped in symbolism for the magi. The three of them also would have made a great show, but a conjunction is extremely predictable and the wise men, being very familiar with the course of the planets, would have known it was coming for months. Granted, Jupiter is considered a kingly planet and Regulus, the star, is also associated with kings, but it is a far stretch of interpretation to bring the Greek word used in Matthew chapter 2 for the star, astare’, to mean planet. Several months later the planet Venus and the star Regulus overlap, but that is still just a conjunction.
In fact, just to have a better understanding of just what the Matthew meant when he recorded his Gospel 2,000 years ago, let us examine the word he used for “star.” When the book was first written, it was recorded in an ancient Greek dialect. Could something have been lost in translation?
The word he used was άστήρ, which pronunciation we mentioned before is astare’. According to the New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, a long respected resource by Bible scholars, the Greek word can either literally or figuratively mean a star. According to E.W. Bullinger’s Critical Lexicon of the English and Greek New Testment, there is a very slim chance the word could also mean planet or even meteor, but more digging into the roots of the word itself back in Strong’s lends more insight. According to Strong’s, astare’ comes from the roots of another Greek word, strōnnumi, which relates the idea of “strewing” or spreading something out in a space, which certainly brings up images of the stars laid out across the heavens. That word, in turn, is connected to another word, stĕrĕŏs, which have more connotations of something that is “stedfast, strong,” or “sure.” So, now we know that whatever the star was, we can rest assured it was not some fleeting or flickering object. It was solidly there.
Stĕrĕŏs, Strong’s claims, is connected to another word, histēmi, and its primary word staō, which can be used “in various applications” either literally or figuratively, to mean bide or appoint, among other things.
The last stop is tithēmi, a word tied to histēmi, from the primary word thĕō, with the widest application as an “upright and active position” of placing something. A curious ending, indeed. It would seem that the etymological trail of the word used for “star” in the book of Matthew, at its deepest roots, means that the “star” really was some object that was deliberately placed, as a solid, enduring object, for a particular appointment. This is what the etymology of that particular word for “star” tells us. Science may lead us to believe otherwise.
Despite all of the theories and conjecture, there really is no way to know for sure. Anything is possible, though, whether you favor a scientific theory or just choose to believe in a miracle. One fact does remain, though: the star has stood for over 2,000 years as a symbol of the coming of the Messiah to people worldwide. That the imagery of stars to Christmas and the subsequent importance that is placed on stars as shining beacons of hope and light in a dark world is undeniable. Perhaps the star is meant to remain a mystery, symbolic in its very nature of the paradox that was the Christ child Jesus, a person fully God yet fully man, ruler of the world born to a poor teenage girl and a carpenter in a stable among the filth and stench of pack animals. A beacon of hope that defies all reason, it is only fitting that it ushered in the single most controversial figure in history.
Credit: The Bible, E.W. Bullinger (1999), the New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (2003).
The astronomy of Halloween, 10.25.10
Many of the holidays we now celebrate have their roots in nature. Ancient peoples paid a great deal of attention to the world around them and many of them were far more familiar with their night sky than people in our day and age. As their own personal calendars and cues for when to plant or harvest their crops often came from signals in the stars, many were familiar with particular star patterns, lengths of daylight through the seasons, and when equinoxes and solstices would take place. While this generalization cannot be applied to every ancient people group, it does hold true for some ancient civilizations, such as the Mayans, Aztecs, Greeks, Romans, Celts, Arabs, Japanese, Egyptians, Chinese, and some Native North Americans people groups.
The origins of Halloween, however, have their roots in ancient Celtic culture. The Celts lived several thousand years ago throughout the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France. Prior to the arrival of the Romans into that area, the Celts held a celebration called “Samhain” (pronounced sow-in) on or near October 31. Samhain meant “summer’s end,” and was their marker for the transition from the bright sunlight and warmth of summer to the cold and darkness of approaching winter. There was great spiritual significance tied to the holiday, as it was a transition from light and dark, warmth and cold, life and death. The barrier between the physical and the spiritual world was thought to be loosened, and spirits of the dead were thought to walk the earth and visit those they had left behind. The tradition of dressing up in costume began as a way to hide from the spirits so they would pass by you without recognizing you and causing you harm. It was also believed that the spirits would go about causing mischief, but their presence was not entirely unwelcome as the Celts also thought their presence would assist their priests as they attempted to divine the future.
With the coming of the Romans into the Celts’ territory, Samhain became melded with two of their celebrations, one of which honored the passing of the dead, called Feralia, and another which honored the goddess of fruit and trees, Pomona. It is thought that this may be another prevailing reason why death or the spirits of the dead are tied to Halloween. The celebration to honor the goddess Pomona may also be the origin of the traditional fall activity of bobbing for apples; the apple was considered to be the symbol of Pomona.
With the coming of the Roman Empire, Christianity also began to spread, albeit a little more slowly. It is thought that the Roman Catholic Church often interposed its own holidays either on or near “pagan” holidays in an attempt to cause the people to transition over to their Catholic beliefs, but more often than not the beliefs were simply mixed up in the Catholic holiday. Such is thought to be the case with Halloween. November 1 was celebrated by the Celts as their New Years Day. November 1 was also designated by Pope Boniface IV as All Saint’s Day, a day to honor all the Christian saints who did not have their own, individual holy day. It was also known as “All-hallows” or “All-hallowmas,” so naturally the day before was known as All-hallows eve. Eventually through translation differences and different ways of naming the holiday, “All” was dropped it and became known as Hallowe’en. More western spellings tend to drop the apostrophe.
So why celebrate October 31? Why is that date important in astronomy? Because it is a cross quarter day. The Celts placed it on that date because they recognized the transition.
Cross quarter days are days that are halfway between equinoxes and solstices. Equinoxes are those two days during the year when the sun rises and sets exactly in the east and west. During the solstices, the sun is at its furthest northerly and southerly points. Cross quarter days recognize the transition between the two. While it may seem odd to us now to celebrate a new season during what we now consider autumn, it is important to remember that the Celts were recognizing a different transition. While we tend to celebrate our seasons based on the equinoxes and solstices, they placed theirs on the four cross quarter days of the year. The three other cross quarter days were on February 2, May 1, and August 1. Sound familiar? February 2 for us is celebrated as Groundhog Day. May 1 is the day of our May Day celebrations. August 1 has no equivalent holiday in our culture and is probably lesser well known because of it, but it is recognized as Lammas Day, a festival of the wheat harvest. So remember the holiday’s origins this weekend as you go out and celebrate; you are carrying on traditions with very, very old roots.
Credit: NASA Science, Live Science, Digitalis Education Solutions Inc., the History Channel, and Utah State University.
The origins of Halloween, however, have their roots in ancient Celtic culture. The Celts lived several thousand years ago throughout the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France. Prior to the arrival of the Romans into that area, the Celts held a celebration called “Samhain” (pronounced sow-in) on or near October 31. Samhain meant “summer’s end,” and was their marker for the transition from the bright sunlight and warmth of summer to the cold and darkness of approaching winter. There was great spiritual significance tied to the holiday, as it was a transition from light and dark, warmth and cold, life and death. The barrier between the physical and the spiritual world was thought to be loosened, and spirits of the dead were thought to walk the earth and visit those they had left behind. The tradition of dressing up in costume began as a way to hide from the spirits so they would pass by you without recognizing you and causing you harm. It was also believed that the spirits would go about causing mischief, but their presence was not entirely unwelcome as the Celts also thought their presence would assist their priests as they attempted to divine the future.
With the coming of the Romans into the Celts’ territory, Samhain became melded with two of their celebrations, one of which honored the passing of the dead, called Feralia, and another which honored the goddess of fruit and trees, Pomona. It is thought that this may be another prevailing reason why death or the spirits of the dead are tied to Halloween. The celebration to honor the goddess Pomona may also be the origin of the traditional fall activity of bobbing for apples; the apple was considered to be the symbol of Pomona.
With the coming of the Roman Empire, Christianity also began to spread, albeit a little more slowly. It is thought that the Roman Catholic Church often interposed its own holidays either on or near “pagan” holidays in an attempt to cause the people to transition over to their Catholic beliefs, but more often than not the beliefs were simply mixed up in the Catholic holiday. Such is thought to be the case with Halloween. November 1 was celebrated by the Celts as their New Years Day. November 1 was also designated by Pope Boniface IV as All Saint’s Day, a day to honor all the Christian saints who did not have their own, individual holy day. It was also known as “All-hallows” or “All-hallowmas,” so naturally the day before was known as All-hallows eve. Eventually through translation differences and different ways of naming the holiday, “All” was dropped it and became known as Hallowe’en. More western spellings tend to drop the apostrophe.
So why celebrate October 31? Why is that date important in astronomy? Because it is a cross quarter day. The Celts placed it on that date because they recognized the transition.
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| Image credit: NASA |
Credit: NASA Science, Live Science, Digitalis Education Solutions Inc., the History Channel, and Utah State University.
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