From Steuart Campbell
William Blair’s claim that an “alignment” (conjunction) of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars corresponded with the birth of Christ is incorrect (11 December 2004, p 33). No planetary conjunction at all is known for the traditionally accepted year of Jesus’s birth, 1 BC. Because of this, some have suggested that he was born in 7 BC, when there was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Pisces (Kepler’s star is in Ophiuchus). At the time, Mars was in Sagittarius. Others have opted for 2 or 3 BC, when there were conjunctions of Jupiter and Venus. In fact such astronomical searches are pointless. The “Star of Bethlehem” was a figment of the imagination of the evangelists, who imagined that at the time of the Saviour’s birth there ought to have been a celestial sign.
Edinburgh, UK
