h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Seasons Greetings (almost) Gnomon,

If you are really seeking an answer re. the Bethlehem Star, then I may be able to help.
Many years ago I chanced upon a little revelation that is only now starting to bear fruit.
The revelation, in a nutshell, is this: all mythology is based on star pictures in the night sky. These are not the fantastical pictures that get served up at planetaria or in the official star watching books (which tell us that Great Bears have tails) but ones that fit the stars and look realistic.
Once you have enough of these 'real star pictures' it becomes easy to see how our ancestors built their stories around this stellar storyboard.
The Bethlehem Star is a picture of a star, still as visible today as it was all those years ago. If you know your astronomy you will know where to look for the Follower(s)... the Star is not far away, just follow the path.
It was not convenient for the Church to have this knowledge in the public domain (you can't build an Empire on fantasy - can you?), hence the Blasphemy and Heresy laws that effectively silenced generations. The proof of this brainwashing is in the pudding, for the Star picture is unmistakable yet no-one knows it!
Needless to say, the 'return' of this Star will have serious implications for the Church and those who Believe, but then, I think a Spiritual shift is long overdue.
Say 'Hello' if you want more info. The timing is about right.

My own research shows that only the ancient Greeks ever saw combinations of stars as pictures. Every other culture saw the stars as individual dots and didn't connect them. Native Americans, for example, told stories of a bear being pursued by wolves, but the bear was one star and the wolves were others stars. Nowhere was more than one star identified as a single object.

So I can't accept that "all mythology is based on star pictures". I'd go so far as to say that no mythology is based on star pictures. The pictures were invented long afterwards, and in only one culture.

May I suggest that your research has been less than thorough, or perhaps misplaced? A few hours outside on a starlit night, preferably with someone who has been studying this aspect of mythology, will quickly replace all the 'knowledge' sold to us by the official books.

With regards your thought that only one culture, the Greeks, joined up the dots - hardly likely. The Hebrews saw the Big Dipper as a measuring implement. Doing 'join the dots' puzzles has amused children for years and this, no doubt, has its origins in the stars.

The reason that many cultures have similar mythology (eg the Bear, Seven Sisters) is because the origins of that mythology are the same, namely the stars and, by necessity, realistic pictures in the stars.

This is not really something to debate, it is something to do; wait for a starlit night, wrap up warm and try it!

The seven sisters are individual stars, though. And the Native Americans saw individual stars as bears rather than the patter of stars as a bear.

The Chinese don't join the stars up into giant pictures either. They make small groups of three or four stars together.

I'd be very wary of saying how cultures saw the stars until I'd spent years studying both their stories and the stars. Of course, if you start with the conviction that they didn't see real pictures in the stars then you will never look for them.

However, if we revert to your original question regarding the Star of Bethlehem - and omit the 'of Bethlehem' bit then we find traces of the Star down through the ages. The Babylonians drew it; the Ancient Egyptians documented it; the Arabs named the star Aldebaran for following it; an unknown C14th English poet waxed lyrically of its exact shape and location in the Arthurian legend 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' and, most recently, Hermann Melville described its location and nature in his classic 'Moby-Dick'.

It is there to be seen. Do you want to see it?

Yes, I'm interested.

Do you have a clear, light free view to the eastern horizon?

Unfortunately not.

Then it would be worth taking a trip out of town. Take a couple of friends if you can as I've found that more eyes sometimes help. Having said that, although I've shown quite a few people, only one person didn't manage to see it.

How well do you know the stars? I don't want to assume one way or another.

Well enough to know that if it is a particular pattern, it will only be in the east at certain times of day and seasons of year.

The season is upon us! But it will last until January, so no rush.

At the moment 10pm is the best time to look, but this gets earlier by about four minutes per day, so come December it will be at 8pm.

What you need to look for is the rising Orion (due east). Specifically the three stars of the Belt (aka the three kings). Once these have risen look to their right for Rigel (very bright) and slightly higher, Cursa (fainter). Orion's Belt leans towards these two, and these two lean towards the Belt.

Project lines from both sets to converge at a point defined by a faint curve of stars. A friend described this as like looking at runway lights. Fix this pattern in your mind, then slowly broaden your vision.

That should be enough. If you 'get the picture' you'll know you've got it!

For me it was an awesome moment when I first saw it. It is a stunning image and unmistakable, so make sure you treat yourself to a good view point - over still water is spectacular. And tonight is looking clear...

Good luck.

Just in case you are still interested I've done a YouTube clip - should make things clear.

http://youtu.be/ufDLGL5jBLE

All the best.

Well, that was a waste of 11 minutes of my life. What a load of cobblers!

That guy uses all the classic tricks of pseudo science - inventing patterns where there aren't any, drawing lines on the sky that don't actually go through anything, misquoting, pretending that if there was something that doesn't fit his theory it was suppressed by the Christian Church and so on. And any reference in the past to anything he has mentioned must be taken to support his theory, even though they are clearly talking about something different.

I did go out and look for the star. I even saw where it is supposed to be. But it is not there. Two sides of it are, the ones he describes as runway lights. But the rest of it is in his imagination.


There's no evidence that the ancients saw such patterns in the sky. Just because he sees

them doesn't mean they are there.

Try again. I am not the only one out there who has/can see the Star! Plenty of people can see it. As I say it can take a few nights to 'get the picture'.

I'm not using pseudo-science, there is plenty of that elsewhere. Simple logic and observation is all that is needed - oh yes, and a free mind.