One of the most prominent New Testament stories will be analyzed in-depth this weekend at the Ball State University Planetarium. The Star of Bethlehem, sometimes referred to as the Christmas Star, is one of the most puzzling mysteries of the Christmas story.
Astronomers have long tried to pinpoint when and why this miracle transpired.
"Part of the program is just figuring out when this event actually occurred," Ron Kaitchuck, professor of astronomy and physics and organizer of the program, said. "We have records from the Chinese, who watched the sky and wrote down a lot about it, that we can use to eliminate a lot of the dates. It could have happened as early as 8 B.C."
Several hypotheses have been presented to explain how an abnormally bright star could have suddenly appeared 2,000 years ago. Some theories, such as an exploding supernova or a lingering comet, are unlikely because of lack of records for such events in the given time period. These events were at the time construed as omens of bad luck. A more likely answer is that the Christmas Star was not a star at all, but rather an extremely rare aligning of the planets.
"There are some very intriguing things that did happen at that point in time," Kaitchuck said. "Venus, which is bright enough that in dark places I've seen my shadow cast in its light, merged with Jupiter, which is only a little bit dimmer, into a single point of light right around 1 B.C. We know for certain that this happened."
Both the question of date and cause will be examined along with other queries this Friday and Saturday in the Planetarium. The actual session is entirely recorded and automated with state-of-the-art projection technology and has been updated to include new insights and evidence collected over the past few years. After the program is over, audience members will be free to ask questions and visit the observatory to view the night sky. The observatory is not heated, however, so be sure to dress warm.
The Christmas Star series is one of Ball State's longest-running programs. Two showings will be offered each day at 7 and 8 p.m. and admission to the event is free, but seating is limited. The program is not intended to focus on the conflict between science and religion, in fact, it usually has the opposite effect.
"I believe most people will find this fascinating," Kaitchuck said. "But people are always looking for conflict between faith and science when they're really two different realms. There should be no conflict."
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