That's when a new star will rise in the east and dominate the sky. This is the result of a collision of two stars that happened 1800 years ago.
Before their meeting the two stars were too dim to be seen by the naked eye, but in 2022, the newly formed Red Nova will burn so brightly in the constellation Cygnus that everyone will be able to to see it...Some information on how the prediction was made is at The Telegraph. Embedded image cropped for size.
For around six months the Boom Star will be one of the brightest in the sky before gradually dimming, returning to its normal brightness after around two to three years...
The forecast was made officially at a press conference on Friday, all the more poignant because it coincided with the epiphany, which commemorates the visit of the Three Wise Men, who followed the star to Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus.
I think it's worth setting people's expectations correctly: these predictions appear to be wild ass guesses rather than solid repeatable science.
ReplyDeleteNot only is the year that the stars may collide a guess, but also the magnitude could easily be orders of magnitude out......but even if it does reach the predicted 2 magnitude, that would only be about the 50th brightest star in the sky. i.e. it would be possible, but not easy, to view from city locations.
Just to prove I'm not always negative - I'm still hoping that Betelgeuse goes up in my lifetime. Now _that_ should be something to see.
another article:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/stars-en-route-to-merger/
"which commemorates the visit of the Three Wise Men, who followed the star to Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus"
ReplyDeleteRead the story at it's source. They were an unknown number of astrologers, a profession banned by Mosaic law (Deut 18:10-12) - so they wouldn't have been lauded or celebrated. The new star was obviously a demonic aberration because it led them directly to Herod first, the man most intent on killing the infant Jesus. Matthew 2:1-12
Soooo... not something to really celebrate.