Some astronomers have compared the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn to the Christmas star recorded in the Bible. The diagram shows a diagram of Jupiter and Saturn in the solar system.
Jupiter and Saturn will conjoin on the winter solstice (Dec. 21), the closest the two planets have been in 800 years. Because they will look so close together in the sky, possibly like a single star, some have likened them to the Christmas Star, the biblical star that led the wise men to the newly born Jesus.
Patrick Hartigan, an astronomer at Rice University, notes that although the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs once every 20 years, this year’s conjunction on Dec. 21 is rare because it is the closest they have been since March 4, 1226.
When Jupiter and Saturn are conjunct this time, the two stars are at the same longitude and only 0.1 degrees apart, close to the limit of resolution for the naked eye, and may appear as a single star in the night sky, a phenomenon that has been likened to the Christmas star mentioned in the Bible.
The Christmas Star, also known as the Star of Jesus or the Star of Bethlehem, is a particularly bright star in the sky at the time of Jesus’ birth that guided the “Doctor” from the East to him after his birth.
According to the Bible, the Three Wise Men from the East, who were skilled in astronomy and astrology, observed a bright star rising in the west and hanging in the sky for a long time, thinking that the Jews had a new king. The star later led them to the place where Jesus was born.
Astronomers at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in England say some astronomers have speculated that the Christmas star may be a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, and Johannes Kepler, a leading German astronomer, has also thought so. Although the two planets may not be close enough to merge into a single star, they have religious or astrological significance.
Other astronomical explanations for the Christmas star include comets, Jupiter itself, or supernova explosions. However, there is no record in the West to support the supernova explosion theory mentioned above, only ancient Chinese records of supernova explosions around the time of the birth of Jesus.
However, according to the rotation of the Earth, the stars in the sky rise and set with the Earth’s rotation every day. The appearance of a star like the Christmas star in the western sky of the northern hemisphere for a long period of time is not consistent with common astronomical knowledge, so astronomy may not explain the appearance of the Christmas star.
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