Star Of Bethlehem — Closest Highly Visible Conjunction Of Venus & Jupiter In 2000 Years On June 30, 2015

After an absence of roughly 2000 years the Star of Bethlehem may soon be making a return to our night skies on June 30, 2015 — to be more specific Venus and Jupiter will be making their tightest highly visible conjunction in nearly two millennia.

The reference to the Star of Bethlehem is with regard to the fact that there was a very similar ultratight conjunction between the two — and close by the star Regulus (as this one will be), and high up in the sky (as this will be as well) — in 3-2 BC. Some astronomers have in the past speculated that this earlier conjunction is what the “Star of Bethlehem” referred to.

At the very least this conjunction will make for a very impressive sight in the night’s sky. The two bright planets have already begun moving closer and closer together in the last evening sky over the past month, this convergence will continue until the evening of June 30, 2015. Those interested should look in the western portion of the evening sky to see the conjunction. Roughly an hour or so after sunset is probably a good time — but obviously there’s some flexibility there.

Relatively close to this conjunction will be one of the brightest stars in the constellation of the Lion, the star Regulus. As mentioned above, the ultratight Jupiter-Venus conjunction back around 3-2 BC was also located near this very bright star. (For those with an interest in history, this is around the same time that the Olmec Civilization in Mesoamerica was reaching near complete disintegration after millennia of dominance of the region.)

While the tightest conjunction will be on the night/evening of June 30, there’ll be a week or so of impressive sights in the days before and after the conjunction.

On the night of June 30th the two planets will so close enough together that they’ll appear to a very bright “double star” — with the outstretched tip of a pinky finger reportedly being enough to cover both up.

Worth noting is that while the two planets vary considerably in size, they’ll appear roughly the same size in the night’s sky owing to Venus being considerably closer than Jupiter. For those wondering, Venus is the brighter one that moves around more (as it follows the Sun around on its path through the sky).

Image Credit: Screen Capture

68 thoughts on “Star Of Bethlehem — Closest Highly Visible Conjunction Of Venus & Jupiter In 2000 Years On June 30, 2015”

  1. WRONG! Everyone knows that Herod I died in 4 BC / 750 AUC / 3757 HC, so Y’shua ben Yosef had to be born before that. God-incarnate was born on April 17, 6 BC / 17.4.748 AUC / 3755 HC. This birthdate has been reported by the BCC, Discovery Channel, History Channel, CNN, FOX, and CBS, as well as being all over the Internet. See astronomer http://MichaelMolnar.com .

  2. This is to ignore the obvious time of duration as recorded requiring months of travel by the so-called Wise Men from the east ( Certainly Persia, and perhaps even Bactria ) so this planetary conjunction, although bright enough, would not have been interpreted by any ( even astrologers ) stargazers as a star.

  3. DAVID ALAN JONES RIDGE

    As one article postulated that this event was supposed to be “jaw dropping” I have anticipated this event but not to that extreme. I am in Omaha, NE, USA, so and what with the haze from the wildfires from the west and the light pollution from our metro area, I have not been able to follow this event as it has progressed.
    The ancients have been known to use these conjunctions to predict that a political leader was being born concurrent with them.

  4. Occam and David….you are both are a Douche bag! I am not religious, but your ignorance is overwhelming. You are disrespectful and stupid. Go crawl back in your hole and let the socially evolved humans actually share ideas here. What bunch of boring idiots!

  5. This is such rubbish. Venus and Jupiter have a close alignment roughly every 13 months.

    There’s nothing supernatural about this and certainly no reason to think that it has anything to do with religion.

  6. Kelly Albritton Dueñas

    What do any of these rants have to do with the subject at hand. We are talking about Planetary conjunctions not dogging each others belief structures. Whether you look at it as simply a stunning display of nature or the work of divive inspiration does it matter? Just enjoy the spectacle, be grateful you happened to be alive in this moment that happens every two millennia and don’t worry about what reason your other fellow human being has for also enjoying the display. And that my friends is called tolerance. It is not preaching tolerance to be intolerant to other people’s intolerant beliefs. That is like trying to make two wrongs become a right. True tolerance means you accept the fact that another human is allowed to have their intolerant point of view the same way you are allowed to have your opposing view and where tolerance comes in is that you agree to disagree and walk away. Tolerance does not mean you force someone to your view or you are forced to accept theirs it means you understand that they have a different perspective, for better or worse, accept it and move on, quickly and in the other direction, 😉

      1. raffaelecafagna

        I don`t think so ; ( not sure ) ; I believe that being on the Southern Hemisphere , you will not be able to see it . Just like Polaris is not visible from the South Hemisphere and vice versa .
        I may be wrong because Cape Town is not that far South like Australia. Try .
        .

  7. God? Which one? Yawey? Zeus? We are talking about PLANETS! Not spirits!?! It’s a post Galileo world girly, so do ur brain a favour and try and overcome ur bereft religious beliefs and go google ‘ the enlightenment ‘ yes I know it hasn’t reached the USA yet but be the first on your ( southern fundamentalist baptist ) block to hear the news.

          1. From you. 🙁

            “why so much hate?”

            Don’t get too worked up over sarcasm. I find religious people do that way to much. 🙂

          2. You lost me. I just asked someone to be tolerant and you infer:
            1. I am religious – you didn’t specify any particular religion.
            2. I said there is no hate in religion.

            You’re not the brightest bulb in the pack are you? You’re not helping yourself with your poor grammar. Do yourself a favor and look up “to vs too” and “there vs their.”

          3. Sorry, sarcasm often loses people.

            1. I am religious – you didn’t specify any particular religion.
            2. I said there is no hate in religion.

            1. And I won’t, they are all fantasy and myth.
            2. I said there was.
            Your points are invalid.

            Brightest? How bright does one have to be to understand sarcasm? You have no room to brag about your superior intelligence. You proved you have none.

            to vs too, their vs there. Bah, whine more kid. Why not bring up the important things. My degree is in science and math. I bet I could stump your dumbass in a heartbeat Mr. Gammar police. 🙂 “There” doesn’t solve complicated problems, or create great ideas, or help needy people. It’s just a way to make YOU feel superior to others. FAILED. BTW, you forgot about they’re. 🙂

            And let me also REMIND you since you seem to not be intelligent enough to understand. YOU STARTED IT, by responding to the original poster. I am only participating.

            But please continue, this is fun. 🙂

          4. Can I play too? You look like you will be a blast with your “degree is in science and math”. I am so impressed. NOT! Try stumping me, Mr. Troll Bully. Guess you don’t watch tv. Because another so called Brainiac named Cooper doesn’t have a clue how sarcasm works and yes those type people do exist in the real world. I’m pretty sure that frankwick posted to Occam and NOT >you<. So technically Mr. BigTime Degree, frankwick didn't start anything with you. But guess what little one, I HAVE! Let's see what you got Motormouth.

          5. David=40=D4+A1+V22+I9+D4

            The Biblical David killed Goliath on the 40th day of the Philistine warrior challenging the Israelites and King David ruled for 40 years. The #40 was sacred to all the ancients and it is a recurring Bible theme.

            “As above, so below.” – precept of sacred geometry

            The ancients observed the Planet Venus (the Morning/ Evening Star) as having a 40-year cycle with a 40-day regression. This pattern is known as the ‘Venus Pentagram’.

            Assigning a number to a letter is very ancient and is now known as Simple6,74 English7,74 Gematria8,74 – google that, it reveals much!

        1. Patricia Ameno

          Ghandi never spoke with hate, neither has the Dalai Lama, Pope Francis nor did Jesus.
          So if you expect to attract more followers to your ‘beliefs’, whatever they may be, don’t you think that you might want to use a little honey rather than the stinking crap you’re spewing?
          You have a blessed day.

          1. I’m sorry. I must be confused. I thought religion was a belief among the masses, like Christianity, Islam, Budism, Hinduism, etc…. Should I stand corrected? That Ghandi, Dalai, Francis or Jesus was the name of religions? I thought they were “people”. Oh well, anyway, thanks for the lesson.

            “than the stinking crap you’re spewing?”

            So many religious people use language like that on the internet. You people are such hypocrites. And people wonder why I left.

            You have a blessed day too.

          2. David, David (love your Biblical name by the way) so much confusion from such a self professed educated individual. Don’t confuse real Christians with believers, they are two entirely but yet similar people. I am a believer but I am not a Christian. Therefore I can and do use this language that you have wrongfully accredited to Christians. Poor confused David, hypocrites, back stabbers, low lifes are in all walks of life, all job categories, all everything. You are probably one of those illiterates that think the Church is a building. How truly sad. You think you can take me on Little One? I’m waiting.

          3. All I hear is whining.

            I accredited the language to humans, not a certain religion. Are Christians human? No where did I specify that only Christians use that language, awful presumptuous of you. I don’t play discrimination games. . One race – Human, different beliefs, call then whatever you wish. This is why arguments happen. I mean one thing, you hear another, and neither of us will get back on the same road ever again. Maybe that is your problem. You think everything is about you and your religion. A little secret, We DON’T CARE, leave us out o fit. I GREW UP going to church as a Christian. I don’t need a history lesson of my life.

            Take you on? I can easily. Do I care to? Not really worth my time.

            Didn’t have to wait to long, huh? Your move skippy.

          4. Check the last two lines of your post. Care to explain them? I’m not worth your time and yet you challenge me. Flustered already? But since I am not worthy of your time, I guess it is out of the question to get you to respond to my other posts to you. And who is the “We” in the “We DON’T CARE”? As to the “whining” being all you can hear is where I stepped on your toes. Truth does hurt especially when you refuse to accept it. Patricia Ameno listed the leaders of various religions. You with your extremely limited intellect failed to see the correlation of her comment. Try again David (probably my 2nd favorite Bible name).

          5. “Check the last two lines of your post. Care to explain them?”
            Not really.

            Though I support your right to whine about them. 🙂

            As far as the rest of your rant. I didn’t fell like reading it either. Mommy might listen though. 🙂

            You’ve pretty much PROVEN the point I made to begin with. You are STILL FREAKING OUT over a sentence. All I have to do say that, and you FREAK OUT like a 5 year old who had his toy stolen. I REST MY CASE. Please, I mean PLEASE, HATE some more. Prove I am right. 🙂

          6. David is in in your realm of capability to have an intelligent discussion? Or are you going to stay in your childish troll mode? I defy you to answer all my questions in every post I have made to you. If you fail to answer all my questions again then I am done with you as not only are you a waste of my time but clearly you are a waste of human flesh.

          7. “David is in in your realm of capability to have an intelligent discussion?”

            Yes, when I find intelligent conversation. Unfortunelay, yours is not. Sorry to be blunt. 🙁

          1. You may study in the religion “Jesus”, but I know nobody else who does. Jesus is NOT a religion, he is a person who is in many religions. But you go on believing Jesus IS a religion though. Why would I have a problem with that?

            I’ll even join you, where do I pick up a copy of the Jesus religion? Don’t say the Christian Bible either. You missed that train.

            Or maybe you ASSUME all religions are BASED on Jesus? Hmmmm.

    1. Brandy Saulman Miller

      God is God no matter what the name he/she is called. I will be outside having a look, but I love science. I always thought that God was the ultimate scientist. Would have to be to have created everything. So, I aspire to be like God in that I am always learning and studying and trying to better my understanding of the world around me… I also try to believe six impossible things before breakfast. You could call me an optimist. There are more things Horatio… just because you cant see it or touch it does not make it less real…

      1. “just because you cant see it or touch it does not make it less real”

        True that…. reminds me of another truth.

        just because you cant see it or touch it does not make real either

        I’m a comic book fan. I’ve never seen The Silver Surfer, but hey, just because you cant see him or touch him does not make him less real. 🙂

        But who really knows these things? 🙂

        1. Brandy Saulman Miller

          true.. but I tend to err on the side of possiblity until I have proven fact that something is not real. some people believe in God, some do not… Personally, Im happy letting people believe what ever they like as long as it does not impunge on others beliefs. sighs.. i wish i could spell.. but alas spell check has destroyed my ability. 😉 I want to live in world.. lets all get along and respect each others ideals and thoughts.

          1. Actually, I do too. I’m with you on this. Spelling? Bah, I think to many people to much emphasis on that. If I can understand you, then I don’t need to act like a superior intellects, I hate grammar police and superior intellects who think they know best. 🙂

          2. Yes, it is despicable how some people go out of their way to post things like “My degree is in science and math.” Yes, I totally agree with you about alleged “superior intellects who think they know best.” Poor poor David, will he ever win one? Stay tuned, someone >might< let him win one.

        2. Can’t see air but I can see pollution like what your mind is covered in. Can’t really touch air so I guess by your demented logic, there is no such thing as air. Then when you post your retort to the air thing, lets go with the gravity thing. Then I have several more for you to ponder. You are soooo turning out to be a blast. I am so glad I stumbled across this area.

          1. Whaaa. You freaks need to get over the fact that not all people “think like you”. And some of us refuse to. I am NO puppet.

      1. This is what the problem is. The false insinuations we constantly have against each other. He wasn’t being a dick, he was just stating his opinion in a way that obviously YOU do not support. So, you define him as a Dick. We could very easily define you as a Dick for CALLING him one, as that COMMENT was the WORST comment on this entire thread.

        THIS is the REASON I left religion. The constant judging I had to endure from people no better than those they were judging. Sorry dude, your belief in your God doesn’t make you better than anyone else.

        We all have beliefs. And we all have the right to express them. How you FREAK OUT over them is YOUR problem.

        PS. I would say the same to one who didn’t believe in God who falsely accused a religious person too. I don’t separate the two HUMANS.

        1. Actually no, I believe in what he said more then what the original person said. I don’t wholly believe in what he said or it may just be the way he said it but they way he said it was dickish

          1. And I support for you stating what you believe in. But I stand by what I believe. That he wasn’t being “A DICK”. He was just saying something in a manner you disagreed in. Otherwise you wouldn’t have said he was being a Dick. 🙂

          2. There is no such thing as religion. …only a relationship with the Lord Jesus will give you eternal life. …..Jesus is Lord!

        2. Donnie Coleman

          God is the author of Love, He tells us how to do it also. He also tells us what is acceptable and what is not. To know God is to have him in your heart and he will guide you on what you should do and say. However, he also gives us a choice to either listen to him or not. Most of the time our minds are so clouded we don’t even hear him when he tries to guide us . Everyone commenting on this page has the right to voice their beliefs.Nothing wrong in that, as God himself says we all have a choice. No one is going to make you do anything you do not want to do. With all this said, those that has strayed away from God because of the way other people have acted, just remember that living for God is a personal relationship between you both. In the end you won’t be judged on what the other person has done to you or anyone else, it will be on how you have lived. You will either do it, believe it or not (your choice). I respect that and Pray for us all.

          1. I just wish people would “live” like that instead of trying to “force” or “coerce” others to live like that. Nobody can make you, but they can make it miserable on you if you do not. I respect that, and “wish” for it myself. 🙂

            Once the world STOPS killing everyone for the sake of their God, I might then return to religion.

    2. Roughly 2000 years ago the magi was alerted by a star – the star of Bethlehem of the birth of Jesus. God says in His Word that He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. So 2000 years later He might very well be telling you that He is returning soon. Now THAT is enlightenment my friend.

    3. Seems like your a bit of a bully…. Why not let people have their own opinions? Or does this ‘new rule’ not include Christian opinions? Why not be nice? You’re way to serious Mr. Scientist…..
      Don’t forget to cross your T’s & dot your I’s people!!! Mr. Scientist is reading your opinions & will judge you😟😝

    4. Let me guess. We are all supposed to believe your way because you say so. No thank you. I prefer the love of “spirits” over your undeniable hate. Perhaps you need to try what the LGBT preaches (but doesn’t practice) which is something called tolerance. I have no idea how old Kristy is but the picture shows a child. I hope you are proud of your bullying of what can be a child. I would rather much have the child learn peace and love from what you atheists refer to as a myth, than have the child learn spite and hatred from your self induced hatred.

    5. Uhh the planet, the entire universe, were create by the one true God. Very intricately designed. How else did it get here? Oh right, I forgot, it came into existence on its own. Wait, that violates every scientific law…
      Einstein and Newton both believed in intelligent Design. Neither you or I are smarter than they were…

  8. Kristy Beard Burkholder

    So interesting! Look at a map of Israel. It’s Jerusalem and Bethlehem?! So cool! God is amazing

        1. NO. That Avery_23 person … just another ignorant “keyboard warrior” who spouts off between “America’s got XXX” episodes. People like that, help further our cause. Be grateful for them!

      1. Avery_23 … the only positive which comes from ignorant atheists like yourself when they post name-calling, one-liners … is that they’re never backed with facts. We educated Christians, can always count on you guys to prove yourselves as complete IDIOTS. PLEASE … do us all a favor … put down that can of Shlitz … and read a book. Thanks SO MUCH helping us to prove to the world, how much IGNORANCE exists within the atheist community. We count on people just like you, to help us further our work. In the future, if you want to be taken SERIOUSLY, I’d recommend including some facts. Please feel free to return to your TV dinner & Mad Dog 20/20 now. God Bless.

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