Jupiter occultation

jeaflor · Jan 23, 2014

I am doing some research on the Star of Bethlehem. There was a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on June 17, 2 BC followed by an August 27, 2 BC Jupiter/Mars conjunction. Then Jupiter supposedly continued to move until it was directly over Bethlehem on December 25, 2 BC.

I need to find out when Jupiter was occulted by the sun during the 3-2 BC time period. The Gospel of Matthew reports that the Star was not continually visible to the Wise Men so it did not lead them directly to Bethlehem. But it reappeared after the Wise Men had met with King Herod. I won’t accept the weather as a factor in this because I won’t accept that God sent the Wise Men to Herod. The only other explanation I can think of for the Star’s invisibility is an occultation by the sun. But, I cannot find anything online to tell me when an occultation may have happened in 3-2 BC, and I don’t know enough about astronomy to be able to use any planetarium software to run a simulation.

I am also trying to clear up some discrepancies in my research. My sources all say that Jupiter appeared motionless over Bethlehem because of retrograde motion, but the sources do not all agree on how long the motionless period lasted- anywhere from a few days to almost a month.

Also, the Cape Cod Astronomical Society put out a newsletter in December 2010 with a schedule for 2 BC that includes another Jupiter/Venus conjunction on October 13. I have not seen any mention of this particular conjunction in any of my other sources. This makes me want to question the validity of computer-based astronomical simulations. Just how accurate are they?

I tried to ask these questions on several astronomy forums, but I have been banned because I dared try to talk about a religious topic. I’ve told the moderators of these forums to go to hell and will do the same here should I get a similar reaction. I have severe arthritis in my arms, shoulders and hands so I don’t appreciate having my time wasted. I am not here to preach anything, and I wouldn’t give you 2 cents for all the churches in the world. All I am doing is asking some questions.

JUPITERASC · Jan 23, 2014

jeaflor said:
I am doing some research on the Star of Bethlehem. There was a conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on June 17, 2 BC followed by an August 27, 2 BC Jupiter/Mars conjunction. Then Jupiter supposedly continued to move until it was directly over Bethlehem on December 25, 2 BC.

I need to find out when Jupiter was occulted by the sun during the 3-2 BC time period.

The answer is that planets are USUALLY invisible during daytime due to the brightness of our Sun.

and

the Sun is below the horizon at night time
therefore cannot have 'occulted' Jupiter at night time
although certainly, during the day,
the Sun may well have conjuncted Jupiter

jeaflor said:
The Gospel of Matthew reports that the Star was not continually visible to the Wise Men so it did not lead them directly to Bethlehem. But it reappeared after the Wise Men had met with King Herod.

Stars are visible at night time.
The Wise Men are therefore likely to have been following the star at night time.

jeaflor said:
I won’t accept the weather as a factor in this because I won’t accept that God sent the Wise Men to Herod.

Since the star was only visible at night time

then clearly the Sun
being invisible at night time
is not involved in any 'occultation' at night time

HOWEVER

The Moon
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Saturn
could all have possibly 'occulted' Jupiter at some stage during 3 - 2 BC

2 BC

17 June

17:53 UT

45oW 26"
32",28" Venus Jupiter diameters

Very Large Elongation
Occurs over Middle East

jeaflor said:
The only other explanation I can think of for the Star’s invisibility is an occultation by the sun.

BUT
as I previously highlighted
The Sun cannot occult any star at night time

jeaflor said:
But, I cannot find anything online to tell me when an occultation may have happened in 3-2 BC, and I don’t know enough about astronomy to be able to use any planetarium software to run a simulation.

I found a near occultation in 2 BC :smile:

jeaflor said:
I am also trying to clear up some discrepancies in my research. My sources all say that Jupiter appeared motionless over Bethlehem because of retrograde motion, but the sources do not all agree on how long the motionless period lasted- anywhere from a few days to almost a month.

Also, the Cape Cod Astronomical Society put out a newsletter in December 2010 with a schedule for 2 BC that includes another Jupiter/Venus conjunction on October 13. I have not seen any mention of this particular conjunction in any of my other sources. This makes me want to question the validity of computer-based astronomical simulations. Just how accurate are they?

I tried to ask these questions on several astronomy forums, but I have been banned because I dared try to talk about a religious topic. I’ve told the moderators of these forums to go to hell and will do the same here should I get a similar reaction. I have severe arthritis in my arms, shoulders and hands so I don’t appreciate having my time wasted. I am not here to preach anything, and I wouldn’t give you 2 cents for all the churches in the world. All I am doing is asking some questions.

jeaflor · Jan 23, 2014

JUPITERASC said:
the Sun is below the horizon at night time
therefore cannot have 'occulted' Jupiter at night time

Occulted simply means blocked from view. There are certain times during Jupiter’s orbit around the sun relative to the earth that the sun is between the earth and Jupiter. This means that Jupiter cannot be seen from the earth at all. As near as I can tell it takes Jupiter 398.9 earth days to make a complete circuit across the earth’s sky, i.e., return to the same place in the sky relative to the sun and background stars. During the last 33.65 days of this period Jupiter appears too close to the sun to be visible from the earth. But then at the start of the period Jupiter has a helical rising meaning it can be seen in the sky around sunrise.

Stars are visible at night time.
The Wise Men are therefore likely to have been following the star at night time.

No. The Wise Men would have made their daily observations of the sky, likely both in the predawn morning and post-sunset evening. They would have traveled in between. They likely attached themselves to one of the trade caravans that routinely connected Europe and China.

The Moon
Mercury
Venus
Mars
Saturn
could all have possibly 'occulted' Jupiter at some stage during 3 - 2 BC

I’ve thought of these possibilities, but I doubt that they would have been a factor time wise. My thinking is that the Wise Men saw the conjunctions and planetary massings that took place in 3-2 BC, realized what they meant and then set out for Judea.

They knew enough of the Bible to know that Christ was born in Bethlehem, but they did not arrive until after He was born. At some point between the time the Wise Men began their journey and the time they arrived in Judea Jupiter was occulted by the sun and thus could not lead the Wise Men to the place where Christ was then living.

So the Wise Men went to Jerusalem and starting asking around if anybody knew where the new King of the Jews was living (not where He had been born). King Herod learned about all of this and consulted with his scribes (his own wise men), and then had a meeting with the easterners and told them that Christ was born in Bethlehem. But the Wise Men already knew this and were likely scratching their heads at what Herod told them. But then Jupiter had a heliacal rising and lead the Wise Men to the house where Christ was living.

I don’t know that an occultation by the moon or another planet would have allowed enough time for the Wise Men’s encounter with Herod.

JUPITERASC · Jan 23, 2014

jeaflor said:
Occulted simply means blocked from view. There are certain times during Jupiter’s orbit around the sun relative to the earth that the sun is between the earth and Jupiter. This means that Jupiter cannot be seen from the earth at all. As near as I can tell it takes Jupiter 398.9 earth days to make a complete circuit across the earth’s sky, i.e., return to the same place in the sky relative to the sun and background stars. During the last 33.65 days of this period Jupiter appears too close to the sun to be visible from the earth. But then at the start of the period Jupiter has a helical rising meaning it can be seen in the sky around sunrise.

Exactly.... Sun occulting or blocking Jupiter from view meant Jupiter was invisible around sunrise

jeaflor said:
No. The Wise Men would have made their daily observations of the sky, likely both in the predawn morning and post-sunset evening. They would have traveled in between. They likely attached themselves to one of the trade caravans that routinely connected Europe and China.

PREDAWN = BEFORE SUNRISE

BEFORE SUNRISE = NIGHT TIME

POST SUNSET = NIGHT TIME

So
The Wise Men made their daily observations at night
even if
they then traveled by day

jeaflor said:
I’ve thought of these possibilities, but I doubt that they would have been a factor time wise. My thinking is that the Wise Men saw the conjunctions and planetary massings that took place in 3-2 BC, realized what they meant and then set out for Judea.

They knew enough of the Bible to know that Christ was born in Bethlehem, but they did not arrive until after He was born. At some point between the time the Wise Men began their journey and the time they arrived in Judea Jupiter was occulted by the sun and thus could not lead the Wise Men to the place where Christ was then living.

So the Wise Men went to Jerusalem and starting asking around if anybody knew where the new King of the Jews was living (not where He had been born). King Herod learned about all of this and consulted with his scribes (his own wise men), and then had a meeting with the easterners and told them that Christ was born in Bethlehem. But the Wise Men already knew this and were likely scratching their heads at what Herod told them. But then Jupiter had a heliacal rising and lead the Wise Men to the house where Christ was living.

I don’t know that an occultation by the moon or another planet would have allowed enough time for the Wise Men’s encounter with Herod.

KIDGER, author of "The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer's View,"

states that occultations aren't rare

and so wouldn't have excited seasoned skywatchers

and noted

that the moon occulted various planets

almost 200 times between 20 B.C. and 1 B.C.

JUPITERASC · Jan 23, 2014

QUOTE

'…...M.R. MOLNAR, QJRAS 1995
has presented a detailed case for his proposal
that the Magi's star,
or star of Bethlehem of the New Testament gospel of St. Matthew,
may be identified with a pair of astrologically significant lunar occultations
of Jupiter in Aries on 6 BC March 20 and April 17.
We have the identification of further contemporary astronomical events,
a pair of occultations of Saturn in Pisces,
which may be capable of astrological interpretation as ``omens'' supporting Molnar's hypothesis.
We also show that Molnar's model horoscope for the birth of Christ
requires a remarkably rare set of circumstances......'

'...Molnar's suggested identification of the star of Bethlehem fits circumstance described by St. Matthew:
Magi came to Judaea believing a king had been born,
but Herod's advisors, non-astrologers,
had not seen the portent because it took place when it would have been invisible,
and would have been known only to astrologers.

Molnar proposed a new interpretation of the Magi seeing the star ``in the east,''
which can be read in its astrological meaning ``at the rising''.
But the Greek phrase could be a common ancient mistake
for the technical term meaning ``at heliacal rising''
or rising with the Sun. ….'

LUNAR OCCULTATION OF JUPITER AND SATURN - STAR OF BETHLEHEM http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~mmd/star.html

'….Molnar observed
that the second occultation provided a confirming omen to the Magi
because it took place in general direction of Bethlehem as seen from their location in Jerusalem.
Molnar argued the Magi
(``wise men'')
were astrologers able to predict occultations
from their observations of the Moon
and empirical knowledge of its complicated path.
Occultations were particularly significant astrological events,
especially in association with heliacal risings,
even if invisible to the eye
because they took place after setting
or during the middle of day.
In Magian astrology,
importance of lunar conjunction
was dependent on proximity of Moon to the other object,
with an occultation being a particularly powerful form of close conjunction....'

jeaflor · Jan 23, 2014

Wise Men would not take much notice of normal celestial events that happen one at a time. But the years 3 and 2 BC saw a series of “normal” events that taken together were extremely rare. These events also coincided with historical events that back up the Bible’s historical record.

(Ernest L. Martin, The Star That Astonished The World)

May
19
3 BC
Saturn and Mercury are in close conjunction.
June
12
3 BC
Saturn, moving eastward from its May 19 conjunction with Mercury is in conjunction with Venus.
August
12
3 BC
Jupiter and Venus are in close conjunction as the morning star while in the last degrees of Cancer which marked the end of the astrological year.

The sun, moon and Mercury are massed in Leo.
Summer

3 BC
A decree goes out from Rome ordering Roman citizens and prominent people in Rome’s client kingdoms to register an oath that Augustus is the Father of the Country.

I don’t accept Martin’s interpretation of this oath taking. If King Herod wasn’t keeping an eye on Mary and Joseph because of their royal Davidic ancestry, as paranoid as he was, there is no way the Romans paid them any attention. Furthermore, the Jewish historian Josephus recorded that shortly before Herod died he was embarrassed when several thousand Jewish religious leaders refused to take a loyalty oath to Augustus. This would indicate a general empire-wide Roman census. Mary and Joseph weren’t singled out.
September
01
3 BC
Mercury is in conjunction with Venus while in Leo and the sun has just entered Virgo and Jupiter has just entered Leo.
September
11
3 BC
The sun is situated in the midpoint, the abdominal region, of Virgo with the moon situated at her feet. According to Martin this matches Revelation chapter 12.
September
14
3 BC
Jupiter makes the 1st of the 3 conjunctions with Regulus, the brightest star in Leo.
December
01
3 BC
Jupiter enters its annual retrograde motion as seen from the earth and is seen to be moving again towards Regulus.
February
05
2 BC
The Roman Senate formally grants the title Pater Patriae to Emperor Augustus.
February
17
2 BC
Jupiter makes the 2nd of 3 conjunctions with Regulus as the moon is positioned between Jupiter and Regulus. The lower 1/5 of the moon’s diameter is covering Regulus.
March
29
2 BC
Jupiter concludes its retrograde motion and begins forward motion and is seen moving towards Regulus for the 3rd time since the summer of 3 BC.
May
8
2 BC
Jupiter and Regulus are in conjunction for the 3rd time since the summer of 3 BC. The top 1/5 of the moon’s diameter covers Regulus.
June
17
2 BC
Jupiter and Venus are in an extremely close conjunction as the evening star in the first degrees of the constellation Leo marking the start of the astrological year. They appear in the western night sky as a single star to the naked eye. A full moon appears in the eastern sky.

To the Romans Leo denotes royalty and Jupiter was taken as the guardian of the Roman Empire with the day of the full moon being sacred as “the Trust of Jupiter” while Venus was the mother of Augustus’ family. So this conjunction was seen as a sign of Rome’s domination. The two conjunctions of Jupiter and Venus (May 19, 3 BC and June 17, 2 BC) as the last morning star of the old astrological year and the first evening star of the new astrological year could have been taken by the Romans as the end of one era and the start of another.

Roman Wise Men had their own interpretation of the celestial events, and if they hadn’t read Genesis they wouldn’t know to associate Leo the Lion with the Jews, so the Romans, and likely the Greeks as well, did not realize the true meaning of what they saw in the sky.

Herod’s Wise Men would have known about Genesis so they would have known what the celestial events meant. But they also knew King Herod so they either ignored what they saw, agreed with the Roman interpretation, or else they came up with some other interpretation to tell Herod hoping they could save some lives.
August
27
2 BC
Jupiter is in conjunction with Mars in Leo when the moon, Venus and Mercury are also in Leo while the sun is entering Virgo.

Jupiter then begins moving westward day by day.

The entire Roman Empire concludes the celebration of the 750th anniversary of the founding of the City of Rome along with Augustus’ 25 year as emperor.
December
25
2 BC
On the 3rd day of Hanukah Jupiter, positioned in the abdomen section of Virgo, appears to stop in the predawn sky over Bethlehem as it completes its forward motion and begins retrograde motion. Due to the differences in their orbital speeds Jupiter’s retrograde movement cannot be detected from the earth for a period of 6 days.

Other sources say that Jupiter was stationary over Bethlehem for as long as a month, and this makes me question the accuracy of the computer software used to determine this celestial schedule.

I had this schedule as a table in an MS Word document. The table format doesn’t translate to message boards. I hope it’s not too difficult to follow.

dr. farr · Jan 23, 2014

There has been some discussion that the Star of Bethlehem was a Grand Conjunction of Jupiter & Saturn; this occurs every 20 or so years-when did that occur during the period of time under discussion (early years BC)?

poyi · Jan 24, 2014

I am being a bit of a skeptic here with my common sense talking. IF it was a combination of astrological event by 2014-16 years later this astrological event should have reoccurred already due to their regular cycles of known patterns of the planets. Jupiter Saturn conjunction every 20 years not really enough to be a big deal. Or it might be a once off comet, or as erratic as it may sound it was a spaceship lol or a group of angles even in more religious explanation. Cause anything in the sky that reflects light at night can be like a Star.

poyi · Jan 24, 2014

This news article also mentioned about the possiblity of new nova or the planet Uranus.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20730828

If it was a major cosmic event it would worth researching to see if the ancient astrologers from Egypt, Babylon had ever mentioned such prediction. They are long known as the night sky watchers.

jeaflor · Jan 24, 2014

poyi said:
I am being a bit of a skeptic here with my common sense talking. IF it was a combination of astrological event by 2014-16 years later this astrological event should have reoccurred already due to their regular cycles of known patterns of the planets. Jupiter Saturn conjunction every 20 years not really enough to be a big deal. Or it might be a once off comet, or as erratic as it may sound it was a spaceship lol or a group of angles even in more religious explanation. Cause anything in the sky that reflects light at night can be like a Star.

There is nothing in Matthew’s account to suggest the Star was anything unnatural. The Greek word translated as star is the same word used to mean star elsewhere in the New Testament. Matthew doesn’t explain the Star as if it was miraculous, and if it had been something like angels, there was no reason for Matthew to not have said as much.

In the ancient world comets were feared. They were taken as bad omens.

jeaflor · Jan 24, 2014

poyi said:
This news article also mentioned about the possiblity of new nova or the planet Uranus.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20730828

If it was a major cosmic event it would worth researching to see if the ancient astrologers from Egypt, Babylon had ever mentioned such prediction. They are long known as the night sky watchers.

I think it was in Michael Molnar’s book The Star of Bethlehem The Legacy of the Magi that I first read about the conjunction in Pisces. It is claimed that Pisces was associated with the Jews, but I cannot find anything to document this. And when you take Genesis 49:9 (Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?) into consideration it makes more sense to associate the constellation Leo with the Jews.

poyi · Jan 24, 2014

I don't think Leo is specifically talking about the Jew as Egyptian used Sirius and Orion for building their pyramids. Pisces is thought to be relevant to Jew maybe because Jesus fed them with fishes and bread Virgo/Pisces. And more relevant stories about Virgo and Pisces in the bible as well.

jeaflor · Jan 24, 2014

poyi said:
@Pisces is thought to be relevant to Jew maybe because Jesus fed them with fishes and bread Virgo/Pisces.

That’s the only connection I can think of, but it is after the fact. It didn’t happen until after the Star of Bethlehem had appeared.

JUPITERASC · Jan 24, 2014

poyi said:
I am being a bit of a skeptic here with my common sense talking. IF it was a combination of astrological event by 2014-16 years later this astrological event should have reoccurred already due to their regular cycles of known patterns of the planets.

Jupiter Saturn conjunction every 20 years not really enough to be a big deal.

A Jupiter Saturn conjunction occur every 20 years, occasionally repeating due to one or both planets being retrograde
and each successive conjunction
excluding retrograde repeats
advances approximately 243 degrees
relative to its predecessor.

Every third conjunction
- once every 60 years -
brings the alignment back to its starting place
plus approximately 9 degrees:
and is known as the first order recurrence of the conjunction.

Every 40th conjunction
– once every 800 years - :smile:

brings the alignment back to within 1 degree of its starting place:
the approximate 800 year cycle
is known as the second order recurrence,
astrologically known as
the Great Mutation cycle.

QUOTE

'....The so-called "Star of Bethlehem"
– thought to have appeared c. 7 BC –
was theorized to be a greatest conjunction;
and some went so far as to assert that it was an occultation of Saturn by Jupiter,
with the two planets appearing to merge into a single object
as seen from Earth.
However such an event did not take place at historic times.

At the greatest conjunction in 7 BC,
which is said to be the "Star of Bethlehem",
the minimum distance between Jupiter and Saturn
was around 1 degree, this is twice the Moon's diameter.

The next occultation of Saturn by Jupiter will take place in 7541.....'

QUOTE

'....As successive great conjunctions occur nearly 120° apart, their appearances form a triangular pattern.

In a series every fourth conjunction returns after some 60 years in the vicinity of the first.

These returns are observed to be shifted by some 7-8°, so no more than four of them occur in the same zodiacal sign.

To each sign astrologers have ascribed one from the series of four elements and thus four triplicities or 'trigons' are formed.

Particular importance has been accorded to the occurrence of a great conjunction in a new trigon, which is bound to happen after some 200 years at most. Even greater importance was attributed to the beginning of a new cycle after all fours trigons had been visited, something which happens in about 800 years.....'

A series of Great Conjunction from Kepler's book De Stella Nova (1606)

QUOTE

'....Originally a trigon was thought to last 240 years
and the full cycle 960 years
but later more correct estimation were provided by the Alphonsine tables.

Despite the inaccuracies and some disagreement about the beginning of the cycle
the belief in the significance of such events generated a stream of publications
which grew steadily up to the end of the 16th century.
As the great conjunction of 1583 was the last in the watery trigon
it was widely supposed to herald apocalyptic changes;
a papal bull against divinations was issued in 1586
and as nothing really significant had happened by 1603 with the advent of a new trigon,
the public interest rapidly died.....' source: wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_conjunction

poyi said:
Or it might be a once off comet, or as erratic as it may sound it was a spaceship lol or a group of angles even in more religious explanation. Cause anything in the sky that reflects light at night can be like a Star.

JUPITERASC · Jan 24, 2014

dr. farr said:
There has been some discussion that the Star of Bethlehem was a Grand Conjunction of Jupiter & Saturn; this occurs every 20 or so years-when did that occur during the period of time under discussion (early years BC)?

7 BC

JUPITERASC · Jan 24, 2014

jeaflor said:
I think it was in Michael Molnar’s book The Star of Bethlehem The Legacy of the Magi that I first read about the conjunction in Pisces

It is claimed that Pisces was associated with the Jews, but I cannot find anything to document this.

Michael J Molnar's book is is in fact titled
EVIDENCE FOR ARIES THE RAM AS THE ASTROLOGICAL SIGN OF JUDEA

jeaflor said:
And when you take Genesis 49:9 (Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?) into consideration it makes more sense to associate the constellation Leo with the Jews.

Not necessarily

poyi · Jan 24, 2014

jeaflor said:
That’s the only connection I can think of, but it is after the fact. It didn’t happen until after the Star of Bethlehem had appeared.

There are Virgin Mary and the Fixed Star Spica, the great gift of mankind.
A particular article about The Star of Bethlehem, Virgo Virgin Mary and the Star Spica: http://www.askelm.com/star/star006.htm

Virgo, The Seed of the Woman. Jesus was born as the flesh of Woman alone with the Spirit from God. A 14 pages article of the Constellation of Virgo and Christianity, of course including Spica: http://biblenumbers.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/virgo-seed-of-the-woman1.pdf

Mythology of Virgo
http://www.atam.org/Virgo.html

Virgo is depicted as carrying sheaves of wheat in her left hand pointing toward the ground. The brightest star in Virgo is located in the sheaves of wheat, it's name is Spica. Spica means, the SEED. Jesus, born of a virgin, referred to this constellation. He said, "Except a grain (seed) of wheat falls into the ground and die it abide alone; but if it die, it brings forth much fruit." John 12:24 Jesus spoke this of himself, knowing that he was the Seed (Spica) of God that had to be sown into the earth (crucifixion-death-burial) in order to limitless multiply Himself through resurrection life.

poyi · Jan 24, 2014

The Fishermen disciples, they went out to fish with net..., ordering the storm to stop, walking on the water.

The Age of Pisces began when the sun entered Pisces at the spring equinox (Figure 5).
18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
19And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matt. 4:18-19)

http://www.usbible.com/astrology/bible_astrology.htm

Pisces is a sign of compassion, selflessness and blind faith and it is likely not coincidental that Jesus’ ultimate message was largely based on the themes of this sign.Pisces is a sign that can give so completely of itself, that it becomes totally consumed and void of it’s own power. It’s not surprising that it’s sense of compassion, forgiveness and selflessness is at once it’s greatest strength as well as it’s greatest weakness.

http://www.visionquestbooks.com/rocky/articles/Pisces.html

The story about wheat and weed, the bad seed and good seed
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13:24-30&version=NCV

poyi · Jan 24, 2014

Actually during this research for this thread. I think we should consider Spica as the better representation of the Greatest Gift of Mankind as the Newborn King baby Jesus.

I found an interesting, valuable article "Spica The Star of Bethlehem?-refraction for near horizon events-

Hipparcos (130 BC) discovered that the position of the stars with respect to the North Pole was not fixed in time, or to say it in another way, the North Pole doesn't point to a fixed position . Nowadays we know this is due to the precession of the Earth and that the North pole axis describes a circle with a radius of about 23.5° every 25920 years. From the Babylonian tablets he deduced that the rising point of Spica moved with time and that its speed for the right ascension should be more than 1° per century(the actual speed is 1°/ 72 years or 50"/ year). He predicted that for this reason Spica should slip through the vernal point about one or two centuries from his days onwards.Even if it were the Greeks who predicted this passage of Spica through the vernal point, it is fair to admit that his discovery was widely spread among astronomers in the Middle East but now here else

To continue this article http://www.academia.edu/4209380/Spica_the_Star_of_Bethlehem_---_refraction_for_near_horizon_events_

tsmall · Jan 24, 2014

http://www.bethlehemstar.net/

Jupiter occultation

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