Was the star of Bethlehem a real astronomical event?

[CoxRox]

Stellarium is a great piece of kit for when you just want to make some simple quick and dirty observations, or want to know what you would have seen in the sky if only all that cloud wasn't there. I did try to run the simulation on it but it seems to be just too limited I'm afraid. A great program you might like to try - also free, which is good - is Celestia. It's got so many features going for it, I recommend taking a look because I know I won't do it justice. Running our simulation on it does work - sort of - but you're making it do something it doesn't really want to, which can lead to displays of temperament such as slewing the whole sky around in a full circle when you least expect it. Might be worth trying though.

I was lucky with Starry Night, it was a present from someone who had no use for it any more and wondered if I wanted it.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll invest in Starry Night (get hubby to get me it as Christmas pressie ).

I've had a look through your findings and thank you for going to the trouble of checking this out. Please leave this with me. I'm going to need to read it a few times, and test it for myself.


Summer - can we clarify what the 'Christian' Forum is for? Is it so surprising, that a believer in Yeshua, would find an astronomical event (that I'm in the process of checking out with Stimbo's help) that seemingly validates the account in the gospel, exciting? Any significance the 'star' may have, is for an individual to decide upon. I am simply providing this information for people to consider.