Earth's Precession and the Stars
In addition to placing ourselves in the latitude of the Holy Land, we also need to make
one other point of reference change, and that is we need to go back in time about 2000
years to when the New Testament was written. This is important because the position of
the sun relative to the stars has changed somewhat during the past 2000 years due to the
earth's precession.
The earth is like a big spinning top or gyroscope. If you spin a gyroscope and hold it on
the tip of your finger you'll notice the axis of spin changes slowly over time making a
small circle. You'll notice the same thing if you spin a top on the floor—the axis
of spin changes slowly over time making a small circle. The only difference is the earth
isn't suspended by a finger, nor is the earth spinning on a floor. There is no cosmic
force of gravity "downwards" towards the South pole. The force of gravity is actually
sunwards, towards the sun, and moonwards, towards the moon which is constantly orbiting
the earth. It is these two forces which cause the slow precession of the earth.
The first difference is 2000 years ago the celestial north pole was not where the star
Polaris is. Today the celestial north pole is very close to Polaris. We call Polaris the
North Star because if you can find it and point to it you will be pointing North. However,
around 0 A.D. the celestial north pole was actually between the Big Dipper and Little
Dipper, as shown on this diagram at left. (Note: There actually is no year 0 A.D., the
years jump from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1.)
(Note how the two end stars of the Big Dipper point to Polaris. This can help you find
Polaris next time you're outside at night.)
The second difference is 2000 years ago the sun was entering Capricorn on December 22,
whereas today the sun doesn't arrive at that position until January 18, almost a month
later.
In the illustration here the sun has just set and the stars have just come out, and we
can see that the sun is positioned on the front leg of the constellation Capricorn. This
is where the sun was relative to the stars on December 22 around the year A.D. 1. In our
present age you have to wait until January 18 to see this.
WHEN AND WHERE
To summarize, we need to go back in time about 2000 years, and we need to position
ourselves at a latitude of around 25-50 degrees North so we are both at the time and
the place when and where the New Testament was written. From here on out my discussion
will be from the point of view.
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