NEW MOON REPORT
Nehemia
Gordon from
“On
“On
The next new moon, which
will be the beginning of the fifth month on the Hebrew calendar, the month of Av,
is expected to be visible from
VENUS/SATURN CONJUNCTION
On
Chart
320 – Venus/Saturn
conjunction in Gemini on
The planet Mercury (Gabriel)
and the Sun are seen here in the midst of the two figures.
MOON OCCULTS MARS
The moon occulted (passed
over) Mars (Michael) on
Chart 321 below shows the
positions of the moon and Mars in the constellation Aquarius during the
occultation. The Hebrew name for the
star below the moon in the lower leg (named Skat here) is Scheat, which
means who goeth and returneth.
Chart 321 – Moon occults (passes over)
Mars on
Below is a picture from the
Sky & Telescope Website that shows the reappearance of Mars at the end of
this occultation.
JUPITER/MERCURY CONJUNCTION
On
Chart
322 – Jupiter/Mercury
Conjunction on
“The scepter shall not turn
aside from
Yehudah,
nor a Lawgiver from between his feet,
until
and to Him is
the obedience of peoples.”
Genesis 49:10 (The Scriptures)
“He shall eat up the nations his
enemies
And shall break their bones,
And pierce them through with his
arrows,
He couched, he
lay down as a lion,
And as a great lion; who shall stir him up?”
Numbers 24:8, 9 (KJV)
“The Lord shall go forth as a mighty
man,
He shall stir up jealousy like a man of
war;
He shall cry, yea, roar;
He shall prevail against His enemies.”
Isaiah 42:13 (KJV)
MARS
CONTINUES TO BRIGHTEN
Mars continues to brighten, as it gets closer to the
earth. It now appears as a bright object
which at this time, mid July 2003, is best seen between
The best time for viewing Mars in late August will
be between 1:10 and 1:50 local time (it reaches zenith around 1:20 local
time. It will be visible however after
sunset and seen above the southeast horizon through the southern horizon as it
rises to its zenith throughout the evening.
There will be more on Mars in next month’s
newsletter.
STAR NEAR ANTARES (THE RIVAL OF MARS) CONTINUES TO BRIGHTEN
The
star Antares, which name means rival of Mars in Latin, in the
heart of the scorpion is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius. This constellation represents the enemy
of the woman and the woman’s seed.
The
star in the head of the scorpion, Dschubba (also known as Delta Scorpii)
has been brightening over the last three years.
I have done an article and a number of updates on this star in past
newsletters. It was expected by most
astronomers that this brightening would only last about a year, but it has now
been three years and it is still brightening.
Below is a picture of the constellation Scorpius showing the
position of Delta Scorpii.
The
following article on this star is from Sky & Telescope News.
Delta
Scorpii Still Showing Off
Delta Sco is a large, hot, rapidly rotating star of
spectral type B0 about 400 light-years away. Spectra show that it began
throwing off luminous gas from its equator when the outburst began. A fainter
companion star orbits it in a very eccentric, looping orbit; the two stars
swing close by each other (separated by about 20 times the primary star’s
diameter) every 10.6 years. The last time this happened was in the summer of
2000, suggesting that this particular pass somehow triggered the flare-up. No
one knows what Delta Sco will do next.”
TWO COMETS COULD BRIGHTEN NIGHT AND MORNING SKIES NEXT MAY
Biblical
Astronomy subscriber Judy Gassett sent the following article to me. Thanks Judy, I somehow missed this one.
Comet Could
Brighten Night Skies Next Spring
Fri May 16,
By Joe Rao,
SPACE.com
“Mark your calendars for this time next year, when a rare, bright naked-eye comet might grace the spring evening sky. Then again, maybe not.
Back on
The comet should not be confused with another that recently looped around the Sun and that also bore a NEAT moniker. That comet NEAT was designated C/2002 V1. The comet NEAT anticipated for next year has been designated as C/2001 Q4.
The potential
The potential
for a bright comet show for the spring of 2004 is based on an improved orbit
that places the new comet NEAT’s closest point to the Sun, or perihelion, at a
distance of 89.4 million miles (143.9 million kilometers) on
The comet was nearly a billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) from the Sun when it was discovered. At that time it was shining at magnitude 20, or more than 398,000 times dimmer than the faintest star visible to the unaided eye. Most comets would be completely invisible at such a tremendous distance, even to the telescope that found it, so the implication is that Comet NEAT C/2001 Q4 may be an unusually large and active object.
The comet has brightened noticeably since its discovery, but is still very faint -- only about magnitude 14, still some 1,600 times fainter than the threshold of naked-eye visibility. It is located within the faint constellation of Fornax, the Furnace. It cannot be observed at the present time, since this part of the sky is only above the horizon during the daytime.
Sizzle of
fizzle?
Most new comets are notoriously unpredictable, and there is no guarantee that comet NEAT won’t fizzle. The big question is whether this activity is the sign of a truly great comet or just a temporary flare-up of an ordinary one.
A "new" comet in a parabolic orbit – that is, a comet that has never passed near the Sun before – may be covered with very volatile material, such as frozen carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide. These ices tend to vaporize far from the Sun, giving a distant comet a surge in brightness that can raise unrealistic expectations. Several such flops appeared last century.
If you are at least 35 years old, you might remember the big build-up – and subsequent letdown – for comet Kohoutek during the Christmas season of 1973.
Kohoutek was discovered more than nine months before it was due to sweep around the Sun. At the time of its discovery in March 1973 it appeared unusually bright for a comet so far out from the Sun (more than half a billion miles). Some touted it as potentially the "Comet of the Century." Most astronomers hoped that if it was so bright and unusual at its discovery, that it would keep on being bright and unusual as it neared the Sun.
But it merely remained unusual rather than getting very bright.
In fact, except at the time of its perihelion, when astronauts on board the Skylab Space Station caught a glimpse of it shining brilliantly next to the Sun, to earthbound observers Kohoutek hardly appeared very bright at all. Many who looked skyward – often through light polluted city skies – could barely perceive the object without binoculars or telescopes.
Comet Cunningham in 1940-41 and Comet Austin in 1990 proved similarly disappointing.
Not-so-NEAT
calculations
On the other hand, a comet that is in an elliptical orbit and returning to the Sun from the distant past has probably shed its highly volatile materials, so what we would be seeing is the true underlying level of its activity. Comet Hale-Bopp, which brightened the night sky during the late winter and spring of 1997, fell into this class.
Unfortunately, as of this writing, calculations by orbital experts suggests that Comet NEAT may be traveling in a parabolic orbit, hinting that it may indeed be a new comet, like Kohoutek. This however, doesn’t automatically mean that Comet NEAT will fizzle-out, since not all-new comets become duds. Comet Arend-Roland is an outstanding exception, a first-timer that put on a spectacular show in April 1957.
If it indeed
stays on its current prescribed path, Comet NEAT will pass closest to the Earth
on
And another thing …
If the prospects for one bright comet doesn’t excite you, how about two?
On
Designated
C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), the comet is currently shining at around 15th magnitude.
The latest orbit suggests that it will come closest to the Sun on
Should either comet evolve into a bright first-magnitude object as some forecasts suggest, either or both could end up becoming striking sights one year from now, with NEAT adorning our evening sky soon after sunset and LINEAR appearing first in the morning and then later in the evening.
But if either or both turns out to be duds, they will appear as nothing more than fuzz-balls in small telescopes.
We’ll just have to wait and see. One thing is for sure: the countdown is on!”
Chart 323 below
shows the position of Comet NEAT (C/2001 Q4) about 20 degrees above the
horizon around
Chart
323 – Position
of Comet Neat around
I have not yet found the orbital elements for Comet LINEAR (C/2002 T7), so I am unable to do charts for it. There will be updates on these comets in upcoming issues of Biblical Astronomy. Stay tuned.
NEW
E-MAIL ADDRESS
The e-mail address for Biblical Astronomy and Bob Wadsworth has changed from starguy1@comcast.net to starguy1@comcast.net
May Yahweh
richly bless you in all spiritual and physical matters through His son Yahshua
our Messiah.
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