BARLEY REPORT
Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem, Israel compiled the
following Barley Report on March 22, 2012.
“Aviv Found in Northern Negev!
We found two fields of
Aviv barley in the northern Negev at Bit'cha and Gama Junction. This means the
next new moon expected on March 23 will be the beginning of the new biblical
year and Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread) will begin two weeks later
at sunset on April 6. However, visibility of the new moon from Israel is
uncertain for March 23. If it is not seen that night the new biblical month
will begin Saturday night March 24 and Chag HaMatzot will begin at sunset on
April 7.”
Photos of the Aviv barley are posted at:
https://www.facebook.com/NehemiaGordon
NEW MOON REPORT
Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem, Israel compiled the
following New Moon Report for the month of March 2012 and the beginning of the
First Month in the New Sacred Year on the Biblical Calendar.
New Moon of Aviv Sighted!
“On Friday March 23, 2012 the new moon was sighted
from Israel. The moon was first sighted:
from Jerusalem at 6:14pm by Nehemia Gordon and shortly thereafter by
Keith Johnson and Jocelyn Carabello; from Aviel at 6:16pm by Chad and Barbara
Peterson and Ephraim Frank;
from Poriya at 6:20pm by Willie Ondricek and about ten others; from Givat
Hamoreh by Dina Marcus at 6:22pm and shortly thereafter by Avi Marcus.
Earlier in the day two fields of Aviv barley were
located in the Jordan Valley, one north of Marj e-Naja and the other at Tal
Malkoach. Yesterday two other fields of Aviv barley were located in the
northern Negev. This makes the current new moon Chodesh Ha-Aviv, the new moon
of the Aviv, which marks the beginning of the new
Hebrew year, in accordance with Deuteronomy 16:1 "Observe the new moon
(chodesh) of the Aviv." Chag HaMatzot (the Feast of Unleavened Bread) will
begin at sunset on April 6, 2012.”
Photos of the Aviv barley found in the Jordan Valley
and the new moon sighted from the Mount of Olives are posted at:
https://www.facebook.com/NehemiaGordon
The next New Moon is expected to be visible from
Jerusalem, Israel near sunset on April 22, 2012 when the moon will be 1.51%
illuminated and 12.570 above the horizon at five minutes past
sunset.
There is a list of all the New Moons from March 2012
to March 2013 on the next page. You can
use these dates to make your own Calendar.
NEW MOONS FROM MARCH 2012 TO MARCH 2013
The
figures below represent the illumination of the moon (% ill.) and the degrees
above the horizon (0 ah) the moon is at five minutes past
sunset. There are some borderline
situations below. The first date is the
date I lean toward for the New Moon being spotted with the unaided eye. The date in parenthesis is my secondary
choice.
2012 lllum. Degrees Above
Horizon
March
23 1.01%
9.780 Starts First Month
April 22
1.51%
12.570 Starts
Second Month
May 22 2.42% 14.130 Starts
Third Month
June 21 4.10%
13.090 Starts
Fourth Month
July 21
6.85%
14.050
(poss. July 20 – 2.55%, 6.320) Starts Fifth Month
August 19 4.98% 9.030 Starts
Sixth Month
Sept. 17
3.28%
6.570 (poss.
Sept. 18 – 8.64%, 14.530) Starts
Seventh Month
October 17 6.33% 14.530 Starts
Eighth Month
November 15 4.11% 14.660 Starts
Ninth Month
December 14 2.24% 13.850 Starts
Tenth Month
2013
January 12 0.94% 9.610 (poss. Jan. 13 –
4.43%, 22.160) Starts
Eleventh Month
February 11 2.24% 15.660 Starts Twelfth
Month
March
13 3.53%
20.170 Starts First Month ??
The Spring
Feasts for 2012
Passover/First Day of Unleavened
Bread – sunset April 6th to sunset April 7th.
Day of the Wave Offering – April
8th during the day.
Last Day of Unleavened Bread – sunset
April 12th to sunset April 13th.
Shavuot – sunset May 26 to
sunset May 27.
Most likely, the new moon starting the Seventh Month on
the Biblical Calendar will be seen near sunset on September 17. The moon will be a bit low above the horizon
at five minutes past sunset but it is also a bright crescent. I usually set the criteria minimum at 1%
illumination and 8 degrees above the horizon at five minutes past sunset to be
visual. Here the moon will be 3.28%
illuminated and 6.57 degrees above the horizon.
NOGAH (VENUS) IN THE PLEIADES
Every eight years to the day (in this present epoch)
the planet Nogah (Venus – the bright and morning star) begins to
enter a retrograde path that takes it well above the ecliptic (the path that
the sun, moon, and planets move through the twelve signs) and into the star
cluster the Pleiades (Job 9:9 and 38:31 – Heb. Kemah), which are
also called the seven stars (Amos 5:8 – Heb. Kemah). From ancient times the Pleiades have
also been known as the seven sisters. These are also the seven stars representing
the seven angels of the seven assemblies of Revelation 1:16, 19.
Every eight years to the day and time in the evening
sky, Venus is very close to the same position it was in eight years
previously. It was in 1996 that I first
wrote of this in my book A Voice Crying in the Heavens. It was on the evening of April 3, 1996
(as seen from Jerusalem), during Passover, that Venus was in the Pleiades
just hours before there was a Total Blood Red Eclipse of the moon in the
constellation Bethulah (Virgo).
At the time in the early evening when Nogah was
seen in the Pleiades, the comet Hyakutake was also seen in the
evening sky, still very visible to the naked eye. It was in the constellation Perseus. See the March/April 2004 issue of Biblical
Astronomy for much further insight on those events at: www.biblicalastronomy.com/04Mar.htm
I expected at that time that Messiah was to return
in the year 2000, possibly 2003. Well,
we made it to April 3, 2004 (Jerusalem time) to see Nogah in the Pleiades
again, and here we are already in 2012.
On April 3, Venus will be very, very close to the same position
it was seen on April 3, 1996 and April 3, 2004.
As seen from the United States, Nogah is close to that same
position on the evening April 2, every eight years.
Every eight years when Nogah is in this cycle, it
is shining at its brightest between March and April. This year it will reach its peak brightness
of –4.7 on April 30. It is a real nice
sight to behold.
This year, the planet Zedek (Jupiter) will join
the show in the early evening sky on April 2, as seen from the United States
(or, April 3 as seen from Jerusalem and other sites in that vicinity on planet
Earth).
The first chart below shows a simulation of the western
horizon on the early evening of April 2, 2012 as seen from the eastern United
States at one hour after sunset. The
second chart shows the same scene as seen from Jerusalem at one hour after
sunset on April 3, 2012.
You can also find more information on this event
with the Biblical meaning of the Pleiades and Nogah as it
occurred in 1996 with charts of the event and the eight-year cycle of Nogah
on the third DVD in the Biblical Astronomy DVD set. If you do not have the DVD set, you can order
it from the Products section on the Biblical Astronomy Website at: www.biblicalastronomy.com/biblical.htm It is a must have. The newsletters mostly serve as addendum to
the DVD set.
SATURN AT OPPOSITION
The planet Saturn will reach opposition, its
closest approach to Earth for the year, on April 15, 2012. It will be shining at its greatest magnitude
for the year at magnitude 0.2 in the constellation Bethulah (Virgo).
In its portrayal of the conflict between the woman and
the woman’s seed against the serpent and the serpent’s seed, the planet Saturn
represents Satan. Here we have Saturn
shining at its brightest for the year on a day we know all too well here in
the United States. I still need to do
mine.
The chart below shows the planet Saturn in the
constellation Bethulah (Virgo) at the time of opposition on April 15,
2012. Bethulah is rising in the
East.
THE LYRID METEOR SHOWER
The following article on the Lyrid Meteor
Shower is from Astronomy.com
April’s shower reigns over a moonless sky
“Barring bad weather, early January’s Quadrantid
shower gets the meteor-viewing year off to a rousing start. But then the sky
settles down for a long winter’s nap. The longest meteor drought of the year
doesn’t end until the Lyrid shower picks up in mid-April.
This shower remains active from April 16 to 25 but
climbs to a fairly sharp peak the night of April 21/22. Under a clear, dark
sky, observers typically spot about 20 meteors per hour at the peak. (Although rates have spiked as high as 90 per hour, that hasn’t
happened since 1982.)
Conditions this year should be ideal. New Moon
occurs April 21, so our satellite’s glare won’t be around to cause
interference. The meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Lyra, which
lies in the northeastern sky in late evening and passes nearly overhead shortly
before dawn.”
The chart below shows the radiant of the Lyrid
Meteor Shower near the star Vega in Lyra.
The main theme for the constellation Lyra is Praise
prepared for the conqueror, such as Rev. 11:17; 19:7; Psalm 21:1, 8,
10-13; the conqueror here being Yahshuah. The brightest star in this constellation is Vega,
which means He shall be exalted.
When I see meteors shoot
forth from Lyra I think of praises going forth before Him and to Him.
NEW
BRIGHT COMET ON ITS WAY
A new comet was discovered
in early June 2011 by the newly activated PAN-STARR telescope and early warning
system. The article on the comet below
was posted on Astronomy.com on March 30, 2012.
Bright New Comet Promises Skywatching Treat in 2013
by Joe Rao,
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist
Date: 30 March
2012 Time: 01:15 PM ET
“A year
from now, it is possible that "comet fever" will be running high when
a newfound comet emerges into view in the evening sky. But while some
scientists have high hopes for a spectacular 2013 sky show by the comet, it is
still far from certain.
When
astronomers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa announced last June that they
had discovered the new comet, it was a distant and inconspicuous object. But
preliminary calculations at once made it clear that this new object had the
potential to become a naked-eye object of considerable interest for skywatching enthusiasts in the
Northern Hemisphere. The comet may ultimately shine as bright as some of the
brightest stars in the night sky, but will likely pale in comparison to the
brilliant planet Venus.
The comet
was christened C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS). Comets are usually named after their
discoverers, but in this case a large team of observers, computer
scientists, and astronomers was involved, so the comet was named after the
telescope.
PANSTARRS
stands for Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid
Response System. It's a 1.8-meter prototype for a quartet of military-funded
telescopes that astronomers hope to build on the lip of the extinct volcano
Haleakala.”
This
comet may reach the magnitude of comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp
when it reaches its brightest Magnitude next March. Though it will most likely
not be seen as bright by the unaided eye. Comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp
were high in the evening sky well into the night and seen under ideal
conditions with very dark skies. Comet PANSTARRS
(C/2011 L4) will be fairly close to the horizon shortly after sunset and
the light of the setting sun will block much of the comet’s brightness. It should still be a very interesting
celestial event though. The path of the
comet is of great interest.
The comet will pass closest to Earth on March 5,
2013 at a distance of 1.1 astronomical units (102.3 million miles) and is
calculated at this time to be around magnitude –0.5 at that time. The calculation for the magnitude could
change by then. The comet may be dimmer
or brighter. It will be near the
distance that comet Hale-Bopp was at its closest approach to Earth. It will be further from the earth than the
sun is, but is large enough to put on a great show. The comet will be closest to the sun on March
10, 2013 at a distance of 0.3 astronomical units or 27.9 million miles.
Chart 582 shows the lineup of the planet Adom (Mars),
the comet PANSTARRS, and the first crescent new moon of the month of the
Aviv on March 13, 2013. Though this is a
real nice alignment, it is shown here at ten minutes past sunset. The sky will most likely be too bright over
the western horizon to see Mars and the comet with the unaided eye. As the clock ticks on, the celestial objects
head closer to the horizon and finally out of sight. The estimated, calculated magnitude of Comet
PANSTARRS at that time is 0.71 or of the first magnitude.
