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QF Focus Magazine The night sky at Christmas
Mid winter is a great time for us amateur astronomers, the sky gets dark earlier, it is often clearer than the rest of the year, and for us in Spain, it's not as cold as the UK. There is also a lot to see, but I'll come to that in a moment.
Picture by ESO
Christmas often brings up the question of what the star of Bethlehem was. There have been lots of ideas, some fanciful, some less so, I'll go briefly over some of them, but the only thing I'm sure about is that we will probably never know for certain. A comet Some comets are regular in their appearances in the sky, and we can tell when they will appear and when they did in the past. None of these is a contender, but it is possible that a one off comet past over Earth all those years ago. A supernova, or exploding star We certainly don't know about all the supernovas in the past, only some of them. The light from one in our galaxy would have been intense, and could have lasted a few days. However, it wouldn't have wandered through the sky, so I think we can forget the idea. Planetary conjunction A quick look on the web might give you the impression that the mystery is solved. One astronomer worked out that Jupiter and Venus were in almost the same apparent position in the sky in the years around the nativity, and they would have looked very bright. A contender you might think. No, not at all. People all those years ago weren't stupid. The Astrologers, or Magi as they were called, knew about the wandering stars (planets) and had a fair idea of their movements. They would know that Jupiter and Venus were together and not gone haring across the Holy land after them. I think the effort to identify the star of Bethlehem tells us more about the human need
for answers, but you can believe whatever you wish.
Back in practical astronomy, try and get out one night, and look for Orion, Pegasus and Gemini. These constellations are some of the real treats of winter nights. There will also be a meteor shower, the Ursids on the 21st and 22nd of December, you will be seeing the dust from comet Tuttle as the earth passes through it. They will radiate from right above us, from Ursa major.
Lastly, keep an eye open on the 24th December night, if you see a bright red object going across the sky, you've just seen Rudolph's nose, it's probably best not to tell anyone though!
If you want to know more, why not join our group, just email me for details. Charles Oates. Vega Baja Astronomy group. Email
vegabaja.astronomygroup@
gmail.com.
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