NEW MOON REPORT
Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem, Israel compiled the following New Moon Report for the month of December 2011 and the beginning of the Tenth Month on the Biblical Calendar.
“On Sunday December 25, 2011
observers from Israel looked for the new moon but it was not sighted. It was
raining throughout the country. Visibility would have been uncertain even under
ideal conditions so unless another report comes in of a sighting, new moon will
be Monday night December 26. My thanks to Yoel Halevi, Devorah Gordon, and David
Cachicas for braving the Jerusalem rain to carry out
the observation this month in the Holy City.”
The next New Moon is expected to be visible from Jerusalem, Israel near sunset on January 24, 2012 when the moon will be 1.93% illuminated and 14.350 above the horizon at five minutes past sunset.
QUADRANTID
METEOR SHOWER
Every year on or about January 4, the Quadrantid Meteor Show Peaks, and thus it is so this year. This shower peaks at up to 200 meteors per hour in some years and is not as popular as others of the same intensity because it occurs in the bitter cold of January. You have to be a diehard observer to go out for a couple of hours to view this shower if you live in the northern latitudes.
Below is and article from Astronomy.com concerning this year’s shower.
The year's first shower puts on a nice show – “The Quadrantid meteor shower reaches its peak the morning of January 4. Although a waxing gibbous Moon will drown out fainter members for much of the night, it sets shortly after 3 a.m. local time, leaving nearly 3 hours to observe under a dark sky. Bad weather can be a problem at this time of year, but those who brave the cold might see a memorable event.
The shower’s peak averages about 120 meteors per hour, but it can produce anywhere from 60 to 200. This range may derive more from the clouds that often plague winter observing, however, than from true variations in the shower. Quadrantid meteors appear to radiate from a point in northern Boötes. Their name originates from the now-defunct constellation Quadrans Muralis, which formerly occupied this region.”
The constellation Quadrans Muralis does not belong to the original 48 constellations of the Mazzaroth. This region has always been part of the constellation Bootes. Below is a chart of Bootes with the radiant of the Qauadranids above the sickle. It is above the area where the peak of the June Bootids occurs.
Bootes means He cometh or the Coming One. Here He is seen reaping the harvest at the end of the this age.
VENUS AND THE
CRESCENT MOON
On January 26 there will be a neat sight to see over the west-southwest horizon. Venus will be shining brightly with the two-day old bright crescent moon closely above it in the constellation Aquarius. Other than the meteor shower in early January, this is the second highlight celestial event for the month of January.
WHAT GOT ME STARTED IN THIS MINISTRY
I became very interested in Biblical Astronomy in
1976 after reading a copy of E.W. Bullinger’s The
Witness of the stars (1893). After
that I read other books on the subject as well, including Mazzaroth
by Francis Rolleston (1862 & 1865), and The
Gospel in the Stars by Joseph A. Seiss
(1882). These are great books on the 48
constellations and their Biblical meanings as well as on the main stars in
those constellations and the meanings of the star names.
It was in the late 1970’s to early 1980’s that I
became familiar with Dr. Earnest L. Martin and His book The Birth of Christ
Recalculated, which was the forerunner of his book The Star of
Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World. I was going to college at the time under the
G.I. Bill. This was about one and a half
years after finishing my enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps and then one year
of service with a ministry that I was part of at that time.
I had a desire to learn about the physical aspects
of Astronomy, which stemmed from my interest in Biblical Astronomy. I took such courses as basic Astronomy, upper
division Astrophysics and Celestial Mechanics.
Dr. Martin’s book showed certain celestial events
that occurred in the constellations around the time of the birth of
Messiah. That really peaked my
interest. Seeing that there were certain
celestial events that portrayed the First Coming of Messiah, I believed that
there would also be certain celestial events that would point to the Second
Coming as well, especially since there are many constellations that are about
the Return and the Judgment that is to come.
The late Dr. Martin did not share in that view. He believed the celestial events concerning
the coming Messiah ended at His birth.
From that time forth, I kept my eyes on celestial
events that might portray the Messiah’s return.
At that time I believed that the Second Coming or Appearing would occur
in 2028, or 2,000 years after the crucifixion.
I have learned a lot since then and now believe that it will occur in
2047 or 2,000 years from when the official reaching out to the Gentiles began.
I was subscribed to Astronomy Magazine at the time,
as well as now, which shows what celestial events are occurring every
month. I did not have a computer at the
time. It was in July 1993 when I
received and read the August 1993 issue of Astronomy that I became very excited
after reading a four page article on celestial events coming up in the next 25
years. It was also the 25th
anniversary edition of Astronomy Magazine.
I notice that there were many rare to very celestial
events coming up between 1996 and 2003.
It did not even include the two comets Hyakutake
and Hale Bopp.
About three months later I purchased my first computer and Astronomy
program The Dance of the Planets. My
excitement was through the roof. I found
that many of those events were very rare like once every 500, 800, 1,000, 2000,
4,000 years, and that many of the events fell on the feast dates of Passover
and Sukkot in 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2000.
I did a research paper on it (1994) and later a book (1996) and things skyrocketed from there. I cannot write about everything here, but I thought that you might want to see the article that started it all back in 1993. So attached is the four-page article from the August 1993 issue of Astronomy Magazine. There are some events yet to occur included in this article. This is from the gift that Marcia (my wife) gave me, which is a DVD set with all the issues of Astronomy from 1973 to 2010.
