Heads up tonight on ABC1

[supernova1965]

Star of Bethlehem Behind the myth was the Star a comet planets or what sounds interesting 8.30pm QLD time

[erick]

Yep, settling down to watch. Hope phone doesn't ring. Thanks. :)

[Liz]

Aah, thanks Warren, was wondering what to watch :)

[AG Hybrid]

Yeah I watched this documentary. Very interesting. In essence they still are not sure what it was. Although the theories put forward were very good and quite logical indeed.

Although I find the concept of that it was a supernova to be far fetched. 1st point is the timing. What are the odds of it happening at that part of the sky at that time? Astronomical...literally. 2nd how long does the visibile light from a supernova last? Ive read just a couple to a few days at the longest. So lats says they left for Bethlehem from their locations. I watched a documentary that the supposed 3 kings were from Africa and another that said one was from Europe, Africa and Asia, respectively. So think of the travel time required to get from their locations to Bethlehem.

Lats say they saw the supernova... all good. Then they are like "Yep thats the sign of the new King is born lats all go say hello". At the speed they would have been traveling and the distance they have to cover to get to Bethlehem, the visible light from the supernova would have died out for sure.

Id buy the comet idea though. Apparently Halley's Comet was in the area at that time.

[seanliddelow]

The Chinese had observed many supernovae for many months even with the naked eye in daylight. Comets were also as the "Bringers of doom" I dont reckon this would be fitting for a kings birth. I believe a supernova or nova in Aries would be the best explanation.

[Ric]

That was a very enjoyable documentary last night.

All the theories were quite interesting and plausible.

cheers

[AG Hybrid]

Well there you go..good old chinese. Sometimes a comet was considered a harbinger of doom, but it depended on which way the tail was pointing. If it was skyward supposedly it was a good omen, good times ahead for all. If it was pointing down, then it was drought, famine, disease, 2012 etc.

[Liz]

Enjoyed watching it, but wasnt anything new.
Different experts feeling sure that it was ... a planet, conjunction of planets, comet, supernova etc.
Will we ever know??
It seems that the 'star' did change direction for a time, so would probably put supernova off the list.
Seems there was a very close conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn at this time, and could be doing the retrograde motion ... who knows??

[michaellxv]

During the show the Magi were shown using and instrument for observing/measuring the stars. Looked like 2 poles with a ring on top.

Can anyone provide more info on this and how it is used?