The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-02-02
THE STAR OF eETHLEHEm.
Probably IL Was Venus at Its Most Bril-
liant Stage.

Probably II Was Venus at Its Most Bril-
liant stage. /
Some time ago various newspapers
OF Europe and America contained the
startling intelligence that the star
which guided the wise mem would
again appear. This star wa con-
nected with that celebrated one which,
three hundred and eighteen years ago,
suddenly disappeared from the con-
Steilation of C~assiopcia, and it was
found that this star of 1872 had pre-
viously appeared in the years 1864 and
9i5. and, if counted back, must have
appeared in the wear of the birth of
Christ. If these facts were well estab-
liShcd, we must certainly expect The
star to appear again in our days. !
We should then see n new body in
II heavens, entirely unlike any
fixed star, to he seen in full daylight.
which would in q short time again dis
appear. Every astronomer in recent
times has asked hundreds of questions
on the sub ect. 1t is true that the Star
of bethlehem will again appear? Is it
periodical? Is its place in the sky APP
pointed? The text question is. What
really happened in 1873?
1t was n few months after st. Bar
tholomew's Night, Tycho Brahe, the
great observer of those days, tells us
that: One evening, as Twas watching
the heaven i'll my accustomed mar
ner, | saw, to my great establishment,
IN the constellation Cassiop Ella, a bril-.
liant star Of unusual c~leurness.' This
was on November II, 1572. Three days
before the star had bcen seen by Cor
nelius Gemma, who spoke of it as this
new Venus In December of the same
year it luster began to wane; and in
March, 1874, it had entirely disap.
peared, leaving no trace. As to the
stars of 945 and 1864, we have no au-
thority except hat of the bohemian
astrologcr, Cyprian Lowitz. No his.
torian mentions them, and the Chinese
chroniclers, who watched all appear
ances in the sky with great care, do
not speak of them, Even granting the
appearance of these stars to have been
a fact, their resemblance to the Star of
Bethlehem is doubtful. 1t is true that
by counting back we come to the wear
630, 3I6 and o; but the star should have
again appeared some time between 1880
and 1891.
With regard to the Star of Bethlehem
there are five assumptions. "a It had
no existence, and the entire statement
Is q beautiful oriental fairy tale. (a)
The fixed star, seen by the wise men,
was Venus, at the time OF its greatest
splendor. 90 II was a periodical star
like that of 1872. () The phenomenon
was occasioned by a conjunction of
planets. (5) 1t was a comet. OF -these
assumptions the most probable is
the second. That it was q pc
riodical star Is scarcely likely, for
Ptolemy and Ma-tuan-lin would have
spoken of It. The fourth statement
was suggested in 1895 by the German
astronomer Ideler, and repeated by
Enckc in 1881. In the year 3, 3. C.;
there were conjunctions of the planets
Jupiter, Mars and Saturn on May 80.
September 3 and December s, but on
none of these days were the planets
nearer together than n degree. so that
the wise men mnst have been very
near-sighted to take them for one
star. The fifth assumption is also not
to be considered, for people already
knew how to distinguish n comet from
other stars, and besidrs, we have no
knowledge of n comet at that time.
For all these reasons we have not the
least occasion to expect the return of
the Star of Bethlehem ut the close of
u century. And eve IL such q star
should appear, IL would simply be the
twenty-siXth such ease observed in
historical times, and the interest at
tached to it would be purely astronom-
ical.-Deutsch Reyue.