yahwehyadayada

I found this on the web this morning. Does anyone else have anything on this?
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/08/30/bethlehem.star/index.html" target="_blank">www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/08/30/bethlehem.star/index.html</a>

beausoleil

(From the link)

I think David Hughes wrote a book about this some time back. The planetary conjunction criticism is something of a straw man - the idea is that several planets were in conjunction in a constellation symbolic of the House of David - only wise men would 'see it' in the sense that only they would appreciate the significance. No one suggests they thought the planets were stars.

Whether there is any point seeking a 'scientific' explanation for a fable is a different matter.

Laera

Even if they did, wasn't it hundreds of years later that Galileo et al proposed the idea of a solar system? Did they already know at that time the difference between stars and planets?

Does anyone know the "state of astronomy" at that point in time?

Coragyps

The Sumerians and Babylonians knew all sorts of details of the (apparent) motions of the planets long millenia before 1 BC. I disagree with Moore: I think a planetary conjunction like Beau mentions is a much more probable explanation. A great deal of ink has been shed over this, too - I just keep up with what Sky and Telescope says every December issue.