NEW MOON REPORT
Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem,
Israel compiled the
following New Moon reports for October and November 2005 and for the 8th
and 9th months on the Biblical calendar.
October – “On Wednesday October 5, 2005 the New Moon was
easily sighted by many observers from Israel. The New Moon was sighted from Jerusalem (Zion
Gate) first by Pam Dow at 18:12 followed by Ray Dow, Eva Reeves, Beverly
Hasdorff, Avi Marcus, Dina; Marcus, Bruce Peterson and Tuan Hwang; from Poriya
first by Tim Arndt at 18:18, followed by Michael Rood and Deborah Arndt; from
elsewhere in Jerusalem (Talpiot) first by Devorah Gordon at 18:23 followed by
Nehemia Gordon; from near Herodian first by Dani Menachem at 18:27 followed by
Bruce Brill and Oshri Ben Ami.
I have posted a photograph of the New Moon taken from Jerusalem
(Talipiot) at:”
http://www.Karaite-Korner.org/new_moon/2005_oct_05_jer.jpg
November – “On Thursday November 3, 2005 the New Moon was
sighted from Jerusalem.
The moon was first sighted by Pam Dow at 17:06, by Nehemia Gordon at 17:07, by Ray Dow and Eva Reeves at 17:10 and shortly afterwards by Miri Burgin, Bershet
Rifkin, and Charlie Gua. The moon remained visible until 17:16.”
The next New Moon is expected to be visible to the naked
eye as seen from Jerusalem, Israel
near sunset on December 3,
2005.
According to the corrected Hebrew calendar, the Feast of
Dedication or Feast of Lights (Hanukkah) this year begins at sunset on November
27 and ends at sunset on December
5, 2005.
Below is a simulation of a bright crescent moon and Venus
on November 5, 2005,
as it would be seen from the eastern United
States.
Aside from the opposition of Mars as it shown
brightly in early November and the Leonids Meteor Shower in mid November (which
was pretty much just a fizzle this year), there were and are no foreseeable notable
astronomical events such as conjunctions and comets for November or December.
MARS AT OPPOSITION
As mentioned in the October 2005 issue of Biblical
Astronomy, Mars reached opposition on November 6, and shown very brightly
at a magnitude –2.33. Mars reaches
opposition about every 2.2 years.
Chart 403 shows the position of Mars (Adom) at the time
of opposition on November 6, 2005 in the constellation Aries
(Taleh).
Chart 403 – Mars at opposition in Aries
on November 6, 2005
The sign and constellation Taleh – the Lamb represents
Messiah, the one who was crucified as a sacrifice of righteousness and sin
offering, being the One who is now “worthy to receive power and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing" (Rev 5:12). The victory over the adversary came from
His atoning blood.
This constellation takes us back and reminds us of the “blood of the
Lamb” and in it a portrayal of Revelation Chapter 5. And praise and honor are given to Him who is
found worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. “Thou art worthy
to take the book and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people,
and nation….” Read all of Revelation chapter 5 for full impact.
This is also the sign, with all of its decan
constellations, that portrays the events of Revelation 19:7 through 20:3.
The planet Adom (Mars), besides portraying the
warrior angel Michael, can also represent blood, blood shedding, war, or the
atoning blood of Messiah (it is the red planet). Mars has been shining brightly in the Lamb
from early September to its peak in early November and will continue to be a
bright object through December.
It is interesting that on November 9, 2003 there was a blood red lunar
eclipse in Aries visible from Israel. The position of the moon during this eclipse
was in the same position in Aries that Adom (Mars) was in during its
opposition on November 6,
2005. Below is a chart
showing the blood red moon in Aries on November 9, 2003.
Compare this with Chart 403.
Blood red moon in Aries on November 9, 2003
There was another blood red moon in Aries on October 28, 2004. This was not visible from Israel,
but was visible from the United States. For the last three years running, we are
reminded of the atoning blood of the Lamb.
It has been in the autumn for all three occurrences, and they have been
within a 12-day period (between October 28 and November 9).
Blood red moon in Aries on October 27/28, 2004
See the November 2003 and the September/October 2004
issues of Biblical Astronomy for further information on the above
mentioned blood red lunar eclipses.
Besides being in opposition on November 6, Adom is
also in retrograde motion (appears to be moving backwards through the
background stars). It usually takes Mars
about two months to pass through each constellation. In its retrograde path through Aries, Mars
will take about 7 months to pass through the constellation. Mars came into Aries in late July 2005 and
will exit Aries in February 2006.
Chart 404 shows the path of Adom (Mars) through
Taleh (Aries) from July
27, 2005 to its conjunction with the Pleiades in Taurus
on February 17, 2006.
Chart 404 – Path of Mars (red line) from
July 27, 2005 to February 17, 2006
Adom goes into this path through this location in Taleh
every 79 years in its 79-year cycle. The
last time Adom followed this path in Taleh was from July 1926 to
February 1927.
There have been some other peak times in history when
Mars was in retrograde motion though in other signs. The most prominent and pronounced one was
during the crucifixion of Y’shua and the days following in 28 CE.
It is in the sign Scorpio (Akrab – the conflict or
war) that the prophecy given in Genesis 3:15
of the conflict between the woman and the serpent and between the woman’s seed
and the serpent’s seed is portrayed.
This conflict starts in Genesis 3:15 and ends in Revelation 20:15.
Chart 405 shows the path of Adom (Mars) from
March 1 to June 20, 28
CE. Adom is seen here in
retrograde motion. Adom started
its retrograde motion near the foot of Ophiuchus that represents the
foot or heel of the seed of the woman that is to be wounded by the serpent and
then set a coarse toward the head of the scorpion, which represents the head of
the serpent that is to be crushed. It
was on Wednesday April 28, 28
CE that Messiah was crucified. Adom
reached the center of the head of the scorpion on June 10 of that year.
Chart 405 shows two dots in the head of the
serpent, though they are so close that they almost appear as one. The first dot is where Mars was on June 10,
and the second is where Mars was on June 20, 28 CE.
June 10 was the day that Y’shua ascended into heaven to
be seated at the right hand of the Father.
This was a crushing blow to the serpent.
Then Adom (Mars) stayed in that area of the head as though to rub
it in for the next 10 days. June 20 of
that year was Pentecost, when the comforter arrived and the Apostles were born
from above as well as thousands of others on that day and millions upon
millions since that day through Messiah’s atoning blood. It was a crushing blow to the head of the serpent.
Chart 406 shows the retrograde path of Adom
(Mars) in the sign and constellation Pisces from June
20, 1941 to January 29, 1942.
Chart 406 – Path of Mars from June 20, 1941 to January 29, 1942
Pisces represents the two houses of Israel,
Judah and
Ephraim. The fish on the right represents
the House of Judah. It was during this
time in history that Judah
was going through immense persecution to say the least. They were finally delivered after much
bloodshed and six million of Judah
lost their lives at the hand of the seed of the serpent in a cruel and hideous
fashion. There has been no other
persecution of such magnitude in history against Jacob up to this point. Messiah will deliver Jacob from the final trouble
and His vengeance will come down heavily upon the heads of the serpent and the
serpent’s seed.
HAVE MAZZAROTH,
WILL TRAVEL
I recently purchased a video projector with high quality
definition to show PowerPoint presentations with. If you have a fellowship group or
congregation who would be interested in hosting a Biblical Astronomy seminar or
workshop in your area, contact me (Bob Wadsworth) for further information
at:
503-655-7430
starguy1@comcast.net
CONSTELLATION
PICTURES
Michele Abraham is in the middle of a big move and as a
result there will be no updates on the constellation pictures in this
issue. Hopefully, we will have some new
pictures or updates by the January 2006 issue of Biblical Astronomy. May Abba richly bless Michele and her family
during and after this move.
TWO MORE MOONS
FOR PLUTO
The following article by David Tytell was released by the
Sky & Telescope website on October 31, 2005.
Pluto Adds Two New Moons
– “Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope
(HST) have found two new moons orbiting Pluto. The discovery gives the ninth
planet three satellites in total and makes it the first quadruple Kuiper Belt
system.
S. Alan Stern (Southwest
Research Institute, Colorado) and Harold F. Weaver (Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory) observed the distant body on May
15th and 18th for the upcoming New Horizons mission, which will launch toward Pluto in
January. Provisionally designated S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2, the pair are 64,500 and 49,500 kilometers (40,000 and 30,700 miles)
away from Pluto, respectively, and appear to orbit in the same plane as Charon.
They are 23.1 and 23.4 magnitude, making them about 150 km and 100 km wide
(assuming a reflectivity similar to ordinary meteorites), with periods of 38
and 25.5 days.
More interesting, however, is
how the moons formed in the first place. According to Stern, they aren't
captured bodies — they likely formed in the same high-energy collision that
created Pluto's largest moon, Charon.
Robin M. Canup (Southwest
Research Institute, Colorado) agrees. She has published
several findings about the formation of the Pluto-Charon system and will be
quickly applying that research toward understanding how these moons formed.
"My gut," says Canup," is that these objects are connected to a
Charon-formation collision."
The moons' confirmation came in
late October when Marc W. Buie (Lowell Observatory) identified the satellites
in HST images of Pluto shot in 2002. Buie had not seen them earlier because he
had used short exposures of Pluto rather that the eight-minute-long images
Stern and Weaver took.
Stern and his team tried to
observe the moons from Earth multiple times since the May observations, but
each attempt was met with failure. Either sky conditions were poor or the
planet was too low on the horizon for the moons to be visible. Because Pluto is
currently behind the Sun, the next opportunity astronomers will have to see the
satellites from Earth won't be until February.
But even with more ground
observations, Pluto is unlikely to reveal any more large moons. Weaver and
Stern say their Hubble observations probed deep and thoroughly enough to rule
out other Pluto satellites larger than 20 kilometers across. That said, Stern adds, "there could still be some pip-squeaks"
awaiting New Horizons' arrival in 2015.”
RECORD HURRICANE SEASON GOES
OUT WITH A BANG
Space.com news release, Nov. 29
by Robert Roy Britt
The formation of tropical storm Epsilon far
out in the Atlantic Tuesday is a fitting bookend to the busiest hurricane
season ever recorded.
This season, which began June 1, started out
as the busiest on record, with 4 named storms
by July 5.
It soon got worse.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were the most
devastating highlights. Katrina has been called the most destructive U.S. storm ever.
Epsilon, No. 26 for those keeping track, is
destined to head northeast and die over open water. But it is a rare storm,
forming in the final moments of the season, which officially ends Nov. 30. The
rarity only adds to what was by all accounts an unusual year.
The season included 26 named storms, the most
ever. Of those, 13 became hurricanes; again, the most ever. Seven major
hurricanes formed, being Category 3 or stronger. Four of those major hurricanes
made landfall in the United States -- another record.
And finally, 2005 saw an unprecedented three
storms reach Category 5 status.
More to come
And now the bad news: This year was part of a
natural active cycle that began in 1995 and is expected to continue. Even
worse, storm intensity may be increasing due to global warming, some scientists
believe. And warmer seas may also be fueling more of the major hurricanes.
"Arguably, it was the most devastating
hurricane season the country has experienced in modern times,” said Conrad C.
Lautenbacher, Jr., the administrator of NOAA, the parent organization to the
National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center. “I’d like to
foretell that next year will be calmer, but I can’t. Historical trends say the
atmosphere patterns and water temperatures are likely to force another active
season upon us.”
Long term conditions such as
warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures and low wind shear in the upper
atmosphere are among the factors expected to fuel activity in coming years,
forecasters say.
"Evidence
of this active cycle was demonstrated this year as the Atlantic Basin produced
the equivalent of more than two entire hurricane seasons over the course of
one," David L. Johnson, director of the National Weather Service.
"Because we are in an active hurricane era, it's important to recognize
that with a greater number of hurricanes comes increasing odds of one striking
land."
So busy ...
This year was so busy the Hurricane Center ran out of names and had to switch to the
Greek alphabet for the first time. A handful of letters are not used in the
regular list of 21 names.
Hurricane Wilma, which exhausted the standard
list of 21 names, set its own record. It was briefly the strongest hurricane
ever recorded.
Tropical Storm Alpha and Hurricane Beta hit
the Dominican
Republic and Nicaragua, respectively. Tropical Storm Gamma brought
deadly flooding to parts of Central America. Tropical Storm Delta largely stayed over open water then moved across
the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa.
May Abba richly
bless you and your family.
HAPPY
HANUKKAH!!!!
