Sky Watch November & December 2008
Two bright planets dominate the western sky in the early evening. Closest the horizon and brightest is Venus. Venus is the third brightest object in the sky, after the Sun and the Moon. Venus is also the object most reported as an UFO. Sometimes the Earth's atmosphere will make Venus seem to change from white to and then red -- a perfect UFO. Slightly higher in the western sky is a somewhat fainter star-like object, the largest of all the planets, Jupiter. Near the beginning of both November and December the Moon will join these two planets low in the western sky. December 1st will find the three celestial particularly close as seen from Earth. Of course the three objects are not really close to each other, the Moon is about 240,000 miles from the Earth, while Venus and Jupiter are millions of miles away. They just appear to be close together as we seem them.
The rotation of the Earth will soon cause Venus and Jupiter to set below the western horizon and shortly after midnight another planet will rise in the east; the ringed planet Saturn. If you wait until around 2:00 a.m. you will easily spot Saturn in the eastern sky.
Any time you star gaze away from the bright lights and smog, you stand a very good chance of seeing a "falling" or "shooting" star. These are not stars at all, but pebble-sized bits of dust burning up as they race through the Earth's atmosphere some 50 miles over your head. On occasion the Earth passes through a cloud of dust particles left behind by a comet and we see a meteor shower. On the night of November 17th-18th the Leonid meteor shower will reach its maximum of perhaps some 40 meteors, or shooting stars per hour and on the night of December 13th-14th the Geminid meteor shower will reach it maximum of some 60 meteors per hour. The best time to see either shower is between midnight and dawn gazing around the eastern sky. Unfortunately, the bright light from the Moon will overpower the fainter meteors and reduce the number visible.
Every year at this time people ask astronomers if they know what was the star of stars, the star that lead the Wise Men to Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Jesus? Long ago people though of everything that they saw in the night sky as a "star". Thus, the planets, the "fixed" stars, meteors, comets, etc. all were "stars". So what might have been "The Star"? Meteors or shooting stars happen so quickly that if you see one, by the time you tell your friends to look, the flash will be gone. Certainly a meteor did not send the Wise Men to Bethlehem. Comets were well known, but were considered omens of bad tidings and thus a comet would not send the Wise Men in search of a great king. The fixed stars do not change from year to year, so they would not account for the search. For time to time a star may "explode" as a nova or supernova, and for a short time may even become visible in the daytime. But, our records show no "guest star" at the time of Christ's birth.
The Wise Men followed the motions of the planets as these "wandering stars" moved against the background of fixed stars, for they believed that the motions of these wandering stars could foretell the future. With their knowledge of the motions of the heavens they could calculate that Jupiter and Saturn would pass each other three times and then be joined by Mars. But, what of Herod and his advisors, why did they not see this "star"? Most of the event would not be visible because it would happen during the day. But, the Wise Men knew that it was happening. They knew that this event would take place in Pisces, the Fish, a star group that for them was symbolic of the Hebrews. Thus some great event would take place in the land of the Hebrews and the Wise Men were off on their search. Was this meeting of the planets really "The Star"? Astronomers do not know; the final decision is yours.
