Was the star of Bethlehem viewed through a reflector?

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Hi All,

Was just browsing around some astro pics and a thought struck me.

Most of the pictures and drawings I have seen depicting the star of Bethlehem that the three wise men followed to find the baby Jesus show the star with noticeable diffraction spikes!

Now my question is this (and without descending into anti-religious sentiment and discussion);

Is the depiction of this star reproduced in literature and in images from scientific observations of stars through reflectors and therefore drawn with diffraction spikes to indicate the brightness of such a star in the sky?

I dont know of any device of the "time" of the event that would have produced such flaring around the star, perhaps its just a modernisation of what we think a bright star looks like now (a la Sirius etc.)

Is there a simpler explanation? Is this how all bright stars are depicted through history, or simply since the invention of a reflector that produces the spikes? I know that refractors don't produce the same thing.

Makes you think.

I suspect that later drawings of the scene naturally depict the star like the people at the time would view it and therefore its just a matter of scientific progress updating History or Religion?

Hmmmm, discuss........?

Not meaning to cast aspersions on anything anyone believes in, just thought it was an interesting topic of discussion.

P.s. Moderators: perhaps this thread should be in the Astronomy Science forum? Not sure.

Cheers

Chris

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I believe the artists concerned must have had a bad case of astigmatism.

[sheeny (Al)]

Just because the star is depicted with spikes doesn't mean much... unless you can find an authentic depiction from a time earlier than when the first known reflecting telescopes were built.

Its a bit like chinese whispers... some infidelity in reproduction and a bit of "poetic licence" and voila... a rare conjunction of planets has diffraction spikes!

Al.

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Hi,

I agree that most of the artwork I've seen does depict diffraction spikes wherever the artist wants to emphasise that particular star in the artwork.

The possibilities are many it seems -

- much artwork we now see dates from after a time when the artist or someone else influential could have glanced through a reflector. Just a bland looking white dot on the canvas would not have been enough, and the artist could not have simply enlarged it to a disc, anyone looking up would have known that was unrealistic. Giotto painted a representation of the Star in about 1303 that is more like a comet, and he could have seen Halley's Comet in 1301.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Bethlehem

- one of the earliest Christian signs is the Chi-Rho, found in the catacombs of Rome
http://www.jesuswalk.com/christian-symbols/chi-rho.htm
Is this cross symbol likely to have translated to a depiction of the star?

- then again, what about translation to a heavenly representation of the simple Christian Cross on top of most churches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_cross
That explanation appeals most to me, as I look for something simple and rational first.

Cheers

[TrevorW]

Artistic license !!!

so lets not get into the refelector/refractor debate or do DF spikes enhance or degrade a star image etc etc

[renormalised (Carl)]

No...the magi were on magic mushrooms and the spikes were a hallucinatory effect of the psilocybin

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Lots of irreverent persons here. Shame. Terrible.

[TrevorW]

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=...um=2&ct=result

From this book it appears it may have been Halley' comet so this may be why depicted in this way

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

How else would you depict "twinkle", and make it stand out on paper? I sure that I wouldn't give it any more credence than that.

[Jen]

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

All very valid points, well explained and researched by the looks of things, thanks to all for the comments and the thought....

So after all this, it seems to boil down to.......

"Stupid" Edmund Halley taking a "twinkle" on a canvas some poetic artist licenced to him while he was under the influence of magic mushrooms to treat his astigmatism which made him quite "cross"?

That sound about right? - good, now we can all get some sleep.

Thanks everyone

Cheers

Chris

[Jen]