The Christmas Star

[LedZeppfan1977]

Many great specials on this.  This one is very good.  6 possibilities.  A must see for all astromers

[redrum]

Looks like Hale-Bopp. 

[LedZeppfan1977]

3 hours ago, redrum said:

Looks like Hale-Bopp. 

Its pretty much been proven not to be.  They come up with 6 possibilities outside of divine intervention, or maybe with a bit.  A Supernova, Nova, Meteor (like the one in Russia recently that was caught on a cell phone camera), and the more likely ones like a Planetary conjunction ( of either Jupiter and Venus or a 3 planet conjunction that occurs about every 800 years),  Comet and there is one more.  It is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew,  and the wise men would have seen it more than once.  Which pretty much rules out a meteor.  The famous astronomer Kepler did research on this and he actually witnessed a Supernova in the year 1604 .

Watching the sky was common in the old days.  Don't forget, NO LIGHT POLLUTION, as there was no electricity.  So a very clear view of the heavens was pretty much every night, assuming the weather was ok and not crap like where I live.  I live in a very bad place to be an astronomer.  Clouds constantly.  

Edited December 25, 2021 by LedZeppfan1977

[redrum]

10 hours ago, LedZeppfan1977 said:

Its pretty much been proven not to be.  They come up with 6 possibilities outside of divine intervention, or maybe with a bit.  A Supernova, Nova, Meteor (like the one in Russia recently that was caught on a cell phone camera), and the more likely ones like a Planetary conjunction ( of either Jupiter and Venus or a 3 planet conjunction that occurs about every 800 years),  Comet and there is one more.  It is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew,  and the wise men would have seen it more than once.  Which pretty much rules out a meteor.  The famous astronomer Kepler did research on this and he actually witnessed a Supernova in the year 1604 .

Watching the sky was common in the old days.  Don't forget, NO LIGHT POLLUTION, as there was no electricity.  So a very clear view of the heavens was pretty much every night, assuming the weather was ok and not crap like where I live.  I live in a very bad place to be an astronomer.  Clouds constantly.  

When I came through Marfa, Texas at night I stopped to take a whiz and the stars were stunning. From horizon to horizon they were as bright as could be. I'll never forget it. The Webb telescope launched into space today. Can't wait to see the images. Maybe they'll give me the old Hubble scope.  😃

[LedZeppfan1977]

On 12/25/2021 at 4:34 PM, redrum said:

When I came through Marfa, Texas at night I stopped to take a whiz and the stars were stunning. From horizon to horizon they were as bright as could be. I'll never forget it. The Webb telescope launched into space today. Can't wait to see the images. Maybe they'll give me the old Hubble scope.  😃

They are saying about 6 months for first images.  It was front page news here because RIT,  a local technical college (Rochester Institute of Technology), is involved with this multi billion dollar project.  I have always been into astronomy.  But it sucks to live here. I cannot get the views like you described.  Jealous for sure. You can see the constellations and might get lucky here and there to catch a comet or who knows what else!