The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-16
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM.
The Mysterious Luminary That sud
denly Disappeared From Cassio-

nefU.
Camille Flammarion in Deutsche Revue.
Some time ago various newspapers Of
Europe and America contained the start
ling intelligence that the star which
guided the wise Men" would again ap-
pear This star was connected with that
celebrated one which, S1S years ago,
suddenly disappeared from the constelia-
ton of Cassiopeia and il was found that
this star of 1872 had previously appeared in
the years of 1864 and 9i5, and, If counted
back, must have appeared in the year
of the birth of Christ. II these facts
were well established, we must certainly
expect the star to appear again in our
day. We should then sec a new body
in the heavens, entirely unlike any fixed
star to be seen in full daylight, which
would in a short time again disappear.
Every astronomer in recent times has
asked hundreds or questions on TINS SUP
ject Is it true that the Star of Beth
lehem will again appear? Is 1t periodi-
cal? Is it's place in the sky appointed'
The next question is, What really hap
1t was a few months after St. Bar
tholomews Night, Tycho Bhahe, the
great observer Of those days, tells us
that: lone evening, as l was watching
the heavens in my accustomed manner
1 saw. to my great astonishment, in the
constellation Of Cassiopeia, brilliant star
II. 1872. Three days before the star was
seen by Cornelius Comma, who spoke OF
it as THE new Venus" In December
of the same year its luster began TO wane,
and in March, 1874, it had entirely disap-
peared, leaving no trace. AS to the stars
Of 9i5 and 1864, we have no authority except
that of the Bohemian astrologer Cyprlan
Lowitz. No historian mentions them.
and the Chinese chroniclers, who
watched all appearances in the Sky
with great care. do not speak of them.
Even granting the appearance of these
stars to have been a fact their re-
semblance to the Star of Bethlehem is
doubtful 1t is true that by counting
back we come to the years $50, 3l5 and
o: but the star should have again APP
peared some time between 1880 aud 1891.
With regard to the Star Of Bethlehem
there are five assumptions: !. 1t had no
existence, and the entire statement is a
beautiful oriental fairy tale. 2. The fixed
star seen by the Wise Men was Venus at
the time Of its greatest splendor. 8. 1t
was p periodical star like that of 1872. a..
The phenomenon was Occasioned by a
conjunction Of planets. ;. It was a comet.
OF these assumptions the most probable
IS the second. That 1t was a periodical
star IS scarcely likely, for Ptolemy and
Ma-tuan-lin would have spoken of it..
The fourth statement was suggested in
1926 by the German astronomer, Ideler,
and rpeated by Encke in 1881 In the
year 8 b. Q. there were conjunot!ons Of
the planets Jupiter, Mars and Saturn on
May 20, Sept. and Dec 3, but on none
of these days were the planets nearer to-
gether than degree, so that the Wise
Men must have been very near-sighted to
take them for one star. The fifth as
sumption is also not to be considered, for
people already knew how to distinguish
a comet from other stars, and besides,
we have no knowledge of a comet at that
time. For all these reasons we have not
the least occasion to expect the return
of the Star of Bethlehem at the close of
our century. And even if such a star
should appear Il would simply be the
twenty-siXth such case observed in his
torical times and the interest attached to
it would be purely ASTRONOMICAL