NEW MOON REPORT
Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem, Israel compiled the
following New Moon Report for the month of June and the beginning of Fourth
Month on the corrected Hebrew calendar.
“On Tuesday June 7, 2005 observers across Israel looked for the new moon. All the reports received so far were that the moon was not sighted. This was an extreme moon, meaning that even under ideal viewing conditions, visibility was unlikely from Israel. In light of this we will be celebrating New Moon day beginning tomorrow night (June 8).”
“On Wednesday June 8, 2005 the New Moon was easily
sighted from Jerusalem. The moon was
first sighted by Devorah Gordon at 19:44, by Ferenc Illesy at 19:50 and by
Nehemia Gordon at 19:51 from Jerusalem.”
The next new moon, which will begin the Fifth Month
on the corrected Hebrew calendar, is expected to be visible from Jerusalem on
July 7, 2005. If the atmosphere is
somewhat hazy on that date it may not be seen.
But it will be easily seen on July 8 (barring cloud cover).
MASSING OF VENUS, MERCURY, SATURN
There will be a unique close massing of the planets
Venus (the Bright and Morning Star), Mercury (Gabriel) and Saturn
(Satan) in the constellation Gemini on June 24/25, 2005.
This will be seen with the three planets at their closest in the early evening of June 24 as seen from the United States and in the early evening of June 25 as seen from Israel.
The simulation below shows the planets on how they
might look from the United States about 30 minutes after sunset on June 24, 2005. This is looking toward the west-northwest
horizon.
The Hebrew name for the sign and constellation Gemini
is Thaumim, which means united.
The main theme of this sign is Messiah’s reign as Prince of
Peace. This constellation portrays
various Biblical figures, depending on the circumstance. It can portray the Father with His Son
sitting at his right hand; or the Messiah with his bride; or the two-fold nature
of Messiah, coming to suffer to redeem his people, then to reign as King.
Another meaning for the planet Saturn is Sabbath
after its Hebrew name Sabbatei. I
cannot trace this Hebrew word further back than the Talmud. I do not know for sure if this is the
original name intended for this planet.
Many Jewish scholars and sages associate Saturn as a dark star that
brings darkness and pestilence. In the
portrayals of the battles or war between the woman and the woman’s seed and the
serpent and the serpent’s seed, Saturn is seen to represent Satan. But here in this massing, may represent the
Sabbath. It is most difficult to
say. This massing is occurring on the
weekly Sabbath (it is also seen as a unique triangular massing from Israel on
the evening of the 24th).
This may be portraying a celestial announcement by Gabriel (Catab or
Mercury) concerning Messiah’s (Nogah or Venus) millennial reign (the
Seventh Millennium or Sabbath Millennium).
Chart 395 shows the position of the three planets in the constellation
Gemini during their massing as seen from Jerusalem above the
west-northwest horizon about 30 minutes after sunset on June 25, 2005. The lines around the constellations are the
constellation borderlines.
Chart 395 – Massing of Venus, Mercury
and Saturn as seen from Jerusalem on June 25, 2005
VERY CLOSE CONJUNCTION OF VENUS
AND MERCURY
Nogah (Venus) and Catab (Mercury) will come into a
very close conjunction with one another in the sign and constellation Cancer
on June 27, 2005. At their closest point
during the conjunction, there will be less than 1/15th of a degree
of separation between them.
An ancient Hebrew name for the constellation Cancer
cannot be found. Its Denderah name is Klaria,
which means the cattle-folds. Its
main theme is Messiah’s redeemed possessions held fast. According to the star names in the
constellation, it is like a coral with sheep pens with two donkeys in the
midst. Donkeys protect sheep from
predators. The sign and constellation
represents a place of safety for Messiah’s sheepfolds in a time of
trouble. And such is the case with its
decan constellation Argo (the ship) with one of its representations as the Ark
of Noah.
Chart 396 shows the close conjunction of Venus and Mercury as
seen from Jerusalem above the west-northwest horizon about 30 minutes after
sunset on June 27, 2005. Here they
appear as one with Saturn beneath them.
Chart 396 – Very close conjunction of
Venus and Mercury as seen from Jerusalem on 6/27/05
ASTEROID 2004 MN4 UPDATE
The Astronomy Magazine website posted the following
news release written by Bill Cooke concerning Asteroid 2004 MN4 on May 26,
2005.
The asteroid and the keyhole
The
now-famous asteroid 2004 MN4 will pass near a 600-yard patch of space that
could deflect the rock enough for a 2036 Earth impact.
Asteroid 2004 MN4 is back in the news
again. Rusty Schweickart, lunar module pilot of Apollo 9, last week called on
Congress to send a spacecraft to the asteroid and tag it with a transponder.
Data transmitted by such a device would enable astronomers to determine whether
or not 2004 MN4 will hit its target in 2029.
This target is not Earth, however, but a
600-yard (549 meter) patch of space located approximately 18,700 miles above
our planet. The asteroid's passage through this region, known to space
scientists as a resonance keyhole, could set it up for a collision with Earth
in 2036.
To those who follow space news, 2004 MN4
is hard to forget. Around last Christmas, astronomers ranked this asteroid's
chances of striking Earth April 13, 2029, at 1 in 37, giving it an
unprecedented threat level of 4 on the Torino impact-risk scale. By the end of
January, additional observations reduced the risk to 1 in 10,000, ruling out a
2029 impact — but not a future strike.
The new orbit held a surprise. It moved
the location of MN4's close 2029 pass outside the error box, the volume of
space containing the probable positions computed by previous determinations.
This isn't supposed to happen. Clark Chapman, a prominent Near-Earth object
(NEO) researcher at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado,
found this occurrence so disturbing he suggested that alternate mathematical
approaches might be better suited to characterize NEO impact risks than what
astronomers are currently doing. Such techniques are used to evaluate risks of
airline accidents or nuclear power plant disasters.
If 2004 MN4 passes through the keyhole,
Earth's gravity could deflect it just enough for an impact in April 2036. The
keyhole's existence is why the impact risk hasn't dropped to zero. Optical and
even radar observations aren't sufficient to nail down the asteroid's location
to within 600 yards — only about 1.7 times the asteroid's diameter. Achieving
"adequate accuracy" is why Rusty Schweickart is urging we intercept
MN4 and place a transponder and some scientific instruments on its surface,
before 2014. Why so early? Astronomers need time to collect the precision data
that will determine whether MN4 will pass through the keyhole.
If it will, lead time is essential in
developing a mission to drive the asteroid from an Earth-impact course.
Deflecting MN4 will be much easier before it encounters the keyhole in 2029.
Efforts can focus on making the rock miss the keyhole rather than Earth. A
change to MN4's speed of about 0.1 inch (0.3 centimeter) per hour may be enough
to eliminate its keyhole encounter. Even a modest rocket engine mounted on the
rock's surface could do the job.
Use of only optical and radar observations could
result in an uncertainty in the asteroid's position of some 37 miles by 2014,
far too big to determine whether or not it will pass through the keyhole. The
transponder will enable us to determine, with certainty, if MN4 will miss,
which is the most likely scenario by far. For this troublesome asteroid — which
has a striking power of nearly 1,000 megatons of TNT — the cost of tagging it
may be peace of mind's price.
RESTORATION OF
THE CONSTELLATIONS
As I mentioned in the May 2005 issue of Biblical
Astronomy, we are working on restoring the constellation pictures closer to
their more ancient form and are giving them more of a Hebrew flavor rather than
the Greek and Roman forms that they are in now (after the Greek and Roman
gods).
Below is a picture of Michele Abraham, the artist who
is doing the drawings, working hard on this massive project. I am thankful for her heart and labor in this
work. We will hopefully have all of the 48 constellations of the Mazzaroth done
by late autumn of this year.
I plan on putting these pictures of the
constellations in the new edition of my book A Voice Crying in the Heavens,
which I hope to have finished by the late summer of 2006. This will also be a massive project since
this edition will be much more comprehensive than the first two editions. This
edition will be hardcover and in color, with pictures of the constellations
portraying celestial events rather than line drawings. We also hope to have a large foldout of the
48 constellations of the Mazzaroth in color in the back of the book.
The next page (below the DVD article) has Michele’s
drawing of Auriga (the Shepherd), which represents Messiah, the Shepherd
King. Info about this constellation is
on the back of (below) the picture.
More pictures of constellations to follow.
BIBLICAL
ASTRONOMY: A VOICE CRYING IN THE
HEAVENS DVD NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER!!!
I planned on having this newsletter
finished and mailed out over two weeks ago.
I was waiting on information if the DVD
that was done on the Biblical Astronomy seminar on May 21 would be produced and ready to
ship by mid June. It took some time to
do the editing and I held off on mailing this newsletter until I heard when
they would be finished. Well, two weeks
turned into three weeks and now have turned into four weeks. But the production turned out very well with
great quality. They are in for final
editing now, and I should have them ready for mailing by the end of June or
very soon after the Fourth of July weekend.
This is the best quality production that I have done thus far. The picture and sound are DVD quality and the
cameraman did a great job on panning to the charts and zooming in when
needed. The coordination with the talk
and charts could not have been any better.
I am very happy with this production.
There are 3 DVD’s in this set, which
contain 5 hours of teaching in three sessions.
This contains basically the same info as the Biblical Astronomy Video
Set that was done with the Prophecy Club, but there are a few extra tidbits of
information in this DVD set. Below is a
picture of the DVD box.
My cost on these is substantially less
than the VHS tape set. I will be selling
these for $47.00 (shipping included). If
you wish to order a set or sets of the DVD production, send a check or money
order to the address in the heading of this newsletter.
As a reminder, this is the last issue of
Biblical Astronomy for the 2004/2005-subscription year. To subscribe for the 2005/2006-subscription
year, send $25.00 domestic, $30.00 Canada, and $35.00 overseas.
