According to the New Testament, the wise men from the East came to visit the king who was born after detecting a rare bright star in the sky. Known as the Star of Bethlehem, she appeared in the sky and indicated where the newborn Jesus was.
However, after more than 10 years of study, Grant Mathews, Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology in the Department of Physics at the University of Notre Dame, believes that what was described as the Star of Bethlehem was actually a rare alignment. planetary.
The professor does not mean that the Bible is wrong, only that the perception of the people describing the event is different from what actually happened in heaven. A new investigation shows how the Sun, the Moon, the planets Jupiter and Saturn are involved, beyond the constellation of Aries.
The historical, biblical and astronomical records – which have nothing to do with astrology – were analyzed to verify that in the year 6 BC a rare planetary formation did indeed take place.
“Astronomers and historians and theologians pondered the question of the so-called ‘Christmas Star’. They wondered where and when it appeared; as what it really was and why, among the billions of stars in the sky, and why it would have shone brightly that day,” Mathews said in a statement. “We use modern astrophysics to try to explain one of the biggest astronomical events in history,” he explains.
The fact that he was able to show that this occurred in the year six BC, this only strengthens the Biblical narrative, as the date falls within the period that theologians believe to be the birth of Jesus. The date is clear why the calendar adopted in the Middle Ages is based on a perspective that is now considered wrong.
During this particular alignment, Mathews explains, the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn were in the constellation Aries. That year, the Sun went through the constellation around March 20. It was the vernal equinox, which marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, when day and night are equal in length.
According to the ancient traditions of the Jewish people, each element of the sky has a symbolism. For the magicians, the presence of Jupiter and the Moon meant the birth of a king with a special destiny, the Messiah. Saturn over Aries during the Equinox was the symbol of life.
The alignment occurred in Aries, symbol of the land of Israel, that is why they went to its capital, Jerusalem. “The magi had seen the light in the East and recognized that it symbolized a royal birth in Judea,” said Matthews, who is working on a book that will break down all these years of study on the subject.
According to the astronomer who did several simulations, this alignment is an extremely rare event and can only be seen again in thousands of years. Even if there were, the vernal equinox would not be in Aries. According to his calculations, which amount to 500,000 years in the future, the researcher confirms that no alignment like the Star of Bethlehem could be found, which makes it a unique event.
Other astronomers and scholars have proposed theories about the phenomenon in the past. They said it would be a comet, the union of two shining planets, a meteor or the passage of the Moon in front of Jupiter. Most of these explanations did not agree with the perception of the ancient Middle East, where, for example, the comet was a symbol of foreboding, more associated with the death of a king than the birth of one.
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