NEW MOON REPORT
For the most recent New Moon Report, see the
September 2012 issue of Biblical Astronomy. For Internet subscribers - I will e-mail you
the next New Moon Report from Jerusalem
on or about October 17, 2012. That New
Moon Report will also be in the November 2012 issue of Biblical Astronomy.
Again, I planned on having this newsletter done by
October 1, but a lot came up and I had to prepare for and do an interview on
Michael Rood’s Shabbat Night Live.
I had short notice but got the job done, though at the expense of
getting this publication to you about two weeks later than planned. I also had to do prep work for more programs
coming up before Michael left for South Africa. I am excited to be on the program, but will
have to readjust a few things so I can get the newsletter to you in a more
timely fashion.
A couple of celestial events for October have
already occurred. I am writing of them
here for the record.
VENUS AND REGULUS IN VERY CLOSE CONJUNCTION
On October 3, 2012 Venus passed 0.1 degrees south of
Regulus in the constellation Leo (Arieh). This was a very close conjunction of the star
and planet. Nogah (Venus)
represents the Bright and Morning Star who is Messiah. The star Regulus (Heb.) means treading
under foot. The more modern Latin
name for Regulus is Cor Leonis, the heart of the lion. But in the heavens we see the Lion
treading under foot Hydra the water serpent. Regulus is more accurate as treading
under foot. Though the
star is in the heart of the lion, and not the foot.
For those who heard me speak of Leo and Regulus
during the interview on October 5th with Michael Rood on Shabbat Night Live,
I did not mean to confuse the issue.
When Michael asked me first what the Latin name was for the star, I knew
that he meant or wanted the answer to be the star Regulus and I answered
that. Then immediately he asked what the
Hebrew name was, which is Regulus, I had
a brain freeze knowing that it would confuse everyone and I could not go into a
lengthy discussion on it at that time because of time constraints. Then when asked what the meaning was, I knew
that he wanted the word King, though the actual meaning is treading under
foot. I should have stopped at that
time to explain everything.
In all of the ancient civilizations, the star Regulus
was always recognized as the King star of the whole universe. Though it is not the brightest star in the
heavens by far, it was always recognized as the King star. So in that sense, it means King. The chart below shows the planet Nogah (Venus)
and the star Regulus nearly appearing as one star near the time of
conjunction as seen from Jerusalem
at 5:30 a.m. on October 3, 2012.
The main theme of the Sign Leo is Messiah’s
consummated triumph. The Hebrew name
for this Sign and constellation is Arieh, which means the Lion. This represents the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who is
Messiah. In the early mornings of
September 11 and 12, 3 B.C.E., the planet Zedek (Jupiter) was close to
and in conjunction with this star.
Messiah was born in the early evening of September 11, which was the
beginning of Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets).
OTHER EVENTS IN EARLY OCTOBER
The planet Saturn (represents Satan)
disappeared from the evening sky in early October. It will reappear in the morning sky in mid November
and will come into a close conjunction with Venus in late November. There will be more on this in the November
issue of Biblical Astronomy.
On October 6, viewers in southern Australia were
able to see the gibbous moon occulting (passing in front of) the planet Jupiter
(Zedek). Zedek disappeared on the
one side of the moon, reappearing later from the other side of the moon. That is always a neat sight to view. When the planet disappears it is all of a
sudden as though a light switch is turned off.
The same when it suddenly reappears, like the light switch is all of a
sudden turned on. This occultation took
place in the wooly hair area (where the wrath is centered) of the reem in the
constellation Taurus as shown in the chart below. This is as viewed from
southern Australia
in the morning sky.
The main theme of the Sign Taurus is Messiah,
the coming Judge of all the earth. Zedek
(Jupter) can either represent YehoVAH or Messiah Yahshuah. Zedek is the root for
Melchizedek. Yahshuah is the High Priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek.
This may be portraying the disappearing (when
Yahshuah ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father) and
reappearing of Messiah when he comes to judge all of the earth, much of which
is in the wrath that has been stored up since the beginning. This may be portraying a future event or an
event that is very close at hand. Again,
we will just have to wait and see which.
Another celestial event that took place on October
6, 2012 was a conjunction of the planets Catab (Mercury) and Saturn. Chart 593 shows the positions of the
two planets in Virgo (Bethulah) as seen at 6:36 p.m. Jerusalem Daylight
Savings Time on October 6, 2012. I do
not know what date Israel
switches from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time or if they use that
system. I never thought about it that
much before now. The pinkish area on the
chart is the ground and horizon.
Chart 593 – Mercury and Saturn in
conjunction as seen from Jerusalem
at 6:36 p.m. DST on October 6, 2012
This celestial event will be very difficult to see
since the planets are close to the sun and low on the horizon shortly after
sunset (20 minutes after as seen in the chart) when the western horizon is
still filled with the light from solar glare.
The main theme for the Sign Bethulah (Virgo)
is The Promised Seed of the woman, who is Messiah. Much of the emphasis of this Sign is on the
birth of Messiah, though two of its decan constellations portray Messiah as the
despised sin offering and coming back in judgment to reap the harvest
at the end of the world.
The planet Catab
(Mercury) represents Gabriel the messenger archangel. And as mentioned earlier, Saturn represents
Satan in the conflict or war between the woman and the woman’s seed against the
serpent and the serpent’s seed. Saturn
can also represent Shabbat according to some, but I do not know where that idea
originally came from or where and when the ancient name Sabbatei, which is an
ancient name for Saturn, came into play.
It is in Francis Rolestone’s book Mazzaroth (1862) as Sabbatei, which
means resting. But I do not know
where or when it originally came about.
In all the ancient zigruts in Iraq
and Iran,
the stone representing Saturn is painted black and is the lowermost stone of
those representing the planets. From
ancient times it has been associated with darkness and evil in most if not all
the ancient civilizations. Saturn is
also the sixth planet from the sun.
MARS AND ANTARES IN CONJUNCTION
Mars (Adom) will come
into conjunction with the star Antares in Scorpius as it passes 40
north of the star on October 20, 2012.
See Chart 594.
Chart 594 – Mars (Adom) and Antares
in conjunction as seen from Jerusalem
at 5:36 a.m. on October 20, 2012
The
picture below shows Mars and Antares on October 18, 2012 with a waxing bright
crescent moon as the planet slowly approaches conjunction with Antares.
The ancient name for the planet Mars is Ares. The name Antares means rival of
Mars. Mars represents the
warrior Archangel Michael in one of its portrayals. Michael battles the Dragon or Serpent (the
Devil) a number of times in Scripture.
The Hebrew name for the Sign and constellation Scorpius
is Akrab, which means conflict or war. This is the ongoing conflict from Genesis
3:15 to Revelation 20:15 (the final destruction of the Serpent and the
Serpent’s seed).
ORIONID METEOR
SHOWER
It is that time of the year for the yearly Orionid
Meteor Shower. This year we may be in
for a whopper of a show. The following
article on the shower and possibility of large fireballs is from Astronomy.com
“The consistent annual shower could team up with an
erratic source of fireballs to deliver a powerful one-two punch for October
meteor viewers. First
up, the Orionid meteor shower peaks on the night of October 20/21. These streaks of light appear to radiate from
the constellation Orion the Hunter. A
waxing crescent Moon sets around 11 P.M. local daylight time on the 20th,
just as Orion rises in the east. This
leaves the sky dark during the prime viewing hours before dawn. The Orionids typically produce up to 25
meteors per hour at their peak.
The wild card is a possible return of the Taurid
“swarm,” a group of relatively large particles that produced an outburst of
fireballs (meteors brighter than Venus) in 1951. Some astronomers predict this swarm should
return every 61 years, and 2012 has arrived.
Bright meteors could appear from about October 20 to November
11….”
The chart below shows the radiant of the Orionid Meteor
shower and Jupiter on October 21 at 2:00 a.m.
The radiant is in the club of Orion.
Orion portrays Light breaking forth in the Redeemer. Orion is also seen crushing the enemy (Lepus)
under his foot. See the Jan. 2010 issue
of Biblical Astronomy for more interesting info on Orion. Also see the chart of this shower in the
Sept/Oct 2011 newsletter article.
SUPER BRIGHT COMET
ON ITS WAY
A comet was discovered on September 21, 2012 that is expected
to reach the brightness of the full moon or brighter. The comet was found by Russian Astronomers Vitali Nevski and
Artyom Novichonok while using a 16-inch (40-cm) reflecting telescope that
belongs to the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON). The comet has
been named ISON.
The
comet will be at its brightest as it approaches perihelion with the sun on
November 28, 2013. It will be 1,162,000
miles from the sun at that time. It will
not be 1.1 million miles from the earth as I stated when I first put that info
out on Shabbat Night Live. I had
a very short time to gather the info on the comet before airtime, and read that
from one of the reports that I found.
Since then, I have had much time to look into the orbital elements of
the comet. I plugged all the orbital
info into my computer to confirm what others were saying about the comet.
As the
comet passes earth the first time on its way to the sun, it will be about 79.7
million miles from the earth at its closest approach. It should be around magnitude 2 in
brightness, or brighter than the stars in the Big Dipper at that time (November
20, 2013). Though it
could be much brighter or dimmer.
It is very difficult to predict with any accuracy of what the brightness
of the comet will be when it is still a year or more out there. As the comet approaches the sun it will
rapidly become brighter each day and even each hour.
Chart
595 shows the
path of the comet through Scorpius on November 28, 2013. The orange dots on the path are in one-hour
increments. When the comet as at the
first dot on the right entering the scorpions head at 1:00 a.m., it will be
around the same brightness as Venus.
When it is about half way through the head at 3:00 p.m., it will be
forty times brighter than Venus. When it
reaches its closest approach to the sun at 11:11 p.m., it will be as bright or brighter than the full moon. It will only be visible through special
equipment at that time as it is very close to the sun. There will be much more analysis on this
comet in the November newsletter.
Chart
595 - Path
of Comet ISON on November 28, 2014 across the head of Scorpius. Phi, Chi and Psi Ophiuchi are stars in the leg of Ophiuchus
with the foot or heel at the end of the leg coming down on the scorpion’s head
where the sun and comet are.
When
the comet leaves the sun and is on its way out of the inner solar system, it
will pass by the earth again. At that
time its closest approach will be about 39.7 million miles from the earth and
shinning at a magnitude of around 4.17 on December 27, 2013, which is dimmer
than when it passed on its way into the sun.
The reason is that it will be further from the sun at this time than it
was on the way in. There will be more
articles with refined info on the comet in the upcoming months. Some of the info above may be revised.
Chart
596 shows the
path of Comet ISON about from September 21, 2012 to July 4, 2013. Chart 597 shows the path of the comet
from July 4, 2013 to July 18, 2014. How
about number I SON?
Chart 597 - Path of Comet ISON from July 4, 2013 to July 18,
2014. The comet starts in Gemini,
Messiah’s reign as Prince of Peace; then passes through Cancer,
Messiah’ redeemed possessions held fast; Leo, Messiah’s consummated
triumph; Virgo, The Promised Seed of the woman; Libra, The Redeemer’s
atoning work, or the price deficient balanced by the price which covers; Scorpio,
The Redeemer’s conflict; Ophiuchus and Serpens, The struggle with
the enemy; Hercules, The mighty vanquisher; Draco, The old
serpent, or the Devil, cast down from Heaven; Ursa Minor, The lesser
sheepfold, Cepheus, The Redeemer coming to rule; Auriga, Safety
for the redeemed in the day of wrath; Gemini, Messiah’s reign as Prince
of Peace. As mentioned in Chart 596,
Gemini is the home constellation of Comet ISON.
We will take a deeper look into what message this comet may be making in
the coming months. Something to chew on.
