The Great Christ Comet (49 page)

The coma was probably regarded as having heliacally risen (i.e., it was first spotted by the Magi on the eastern horizon, rising in advance of the rising Sun) on September 29 or 30 (see Matt. 2:2 and Rev. 12:1–2). In view of the intensity of the brightness and the large size of the comet's coma and tail (in historical terms), and the shape and location of the coma, what a heliacal rising it was! And, to top it all off, at that moment, for the first time the entire cometary scepter was visible standing up over the eastern horizon (
fig. 10.23
).

It is astonishing that the heliacal rising of the cometary coma in Virgo's womb, the first view of the entire (heliacally risen) cometary scepter, and the visible peak of the whole comet's brightness all occurred in conjunction with the start of the great Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles was arguably the most joyful and important annual festival in the Jewish calendar and was celebrated on Tishri 15–22 (counting the Eighth Day as part of it). In 6 BC, if the new Moon was spotted on September 14, Tishri 15 coincided with September 29, but if the first sighting of the new Moon occurred the following evening (September 15), Tishri 15 was September 30.

The Feast of Tabernacles was an occasion of thanksgiving for the harvest and of prayer for the autumn rains to fertilize the land; a time to remember the exodus and wilderness wandering; and a week to look forward to the coming of salvation and the conversion of the nations in connection with the coming of the Messiah. In addition to making special offerings and hymns, the priests made a procession around the altar of burnt offering once daily for six days and then seven times on the seventh day. As they processed, they called out for Yahweh to bring salvation (Ps. 118:25).

During the festival, priests would draw water from the Pool of Siloam and then pour this water into a container at the base of the altar. It was a symbolic gesture, calling out for Yahweh to send the waters to enliven the land. Isaiah 12:3 may allude to this rite, implying that it had a spiritual significance, looking forward to the water that would at the time of the end be drawn “from the wells of salvation.” According to John 7:37–38, Jesus claimed to be the giver of true spiritual water during the Feast of Tabernacles.

More important for our purposes, during this festival, indeed at the close of the first day of it, four golden candelabras were lit in the Court of the Women, giving light to all of Jerusalem. The rationale for this was presumably eschatological—Isaiah had prophesied that “the people who walked in darkness” would see “a great light” (Isa. 9:2), referring to the great cometary light that would announce the birth of the true Immanuel, the Messiah (7:14).
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That the cometary coma rose heliacally, appearing at its stunning brightest, at this very time is astonishing. Of course, John records that, during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus, obviously alluding to the lighting ritual and indeed Isaiah 9:2, made the claim, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). In view of what had happened during the Feast of Tabernacles in 6 BC, Jesus's words would have been especially forceful.
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The Magi may have discovered the correspondence between the Star's heliacal rising and the Feast of Tabernacles from the Bab­ylo­nian Jewish community.

As magnificent as the scene of the heliacally risen comet obviously was, the marvel was, in truth, only starting. For, as large as the coma (facing the full blast of the solar wind and the intensity of the Sun's radiation pressure) and the tail were at that point, they were actually small compared to what they would become.

Each day, the comet was moving farther away from the Sun both in outer space and in the sky, with the result that the coma was seen earlier and against a darker sky.

Every night, as more and more of Virgo rose over the horizon before dawn, the comet scepter appeared larger and longer. The comet tail's steady increase in length meant that it was appearing over the eastern horizon earlier and earlier in the night. On the evening of the 29th, the comet was about 78 degrees long and began rising about 5 hours after sunset. The following morning it was already 84 degrees long. By the evening of the 30th, the comet was about 94 degrees long and began to rise less than 4 hours after sunset. When predawn observers around that time followed the tail upwards to its end with their eyes, they were basically looking up straight above their heads. With the majestic scepter extended over them, the Magi may well have felt that the king represented by this comet was destined to exercise sovereign authority even over their own land (cf. Ps.
110:1–2
).

As for the comet's coma, because it was located in Virgo's womb, its growth made it seem that the pregnancy was developing normally.

The growth in the size of the comet was because it was at its most productive and was emerging from its hairpin turn around the Sun, exposing more of its coma and tail to Earth-bound observers. It was also because the comet was steadily moving toward Earth, amplifying the apparent size of the coma and tail. Moreover, the coma was increasingly being liberated from the constricting effect of the Sun, causing it to become larger.

It is interesting to look at the range of possible apparent magnitude values for September 30 and October 3, 6 BC (tables 10.3–4).

From September 30 to October 3, the brightness of the comet would have been extraordinary.
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If we assume an average brightness slope (n=4), the coma would have been at least -12.5 in apparent magnitude before dawn on October 3.
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In length it would have grown from about the Moon's diameter to over 2½ times that. The concentrated brightness around the nucleus would probably have been especially stunning, and indeed visible during the daytime. It may have given the impression that the face of the celestial Virgin's baby was especially glorious. This baby in Virgo's womb was truly magnificent! The comet had quickly gone from being a glorious evening star to being an astonishingly “bright morning star” (Rev. 22:16; cf. 2 Pet. 1:19) and indeed an afternoon star! Over these days, the comet was increasingly moving away from the Sun—for example, from September 30 to October 3 it moved more than 5 degrees further away from the solar disk. The Christ Comet, like the 373–372 BC comet
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and Comet Tebbutt of 1861, would unquestionably have cast shadows.

It must soon have become apparent to the Magi that the cometary coma in Virgo's belly was playing the part of the Jewish Messiah and was signaling the fulfillment of the oracles of Isaiah 7:14 and 9:1–7. In addition, since the comet as a whole apparently looked like a scepter at this stage of its apparition, the conclusion that Numbers 24:17 was being fulfilled would quickly have become obvious. From the moment that the Magi came to the conclusion that the comet was at this time announcing the Messiah's coming, they would have anticipated that the celestial pregnancy would culminate in a birth scene that would coincide with the Messiah's nativity. Moreover, they would have been hungry to learn all they could concerning the Messiah as prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures. In addition, around this time the Magi may have begun planning their trip to Judea to worship the Messiah.

Growing Baby

According to our orbit, the baby (i.e., coma) seemed to move slightly upwards within Virgo's womb until October 6/7,
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from which point it began to descend slowly (see
fig. 10.24
).
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However, right up until October 14 the comet remained inside a set area within Virgo's belly.
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The stability of the cometary baby within Virgo's womb was possible only because of a remarkable synchronism between the movement of Earth on its orbit and that of the comet on its orbit. Each day the comet could be seen in a darker sky, because more of the comet and Virgo were rising above the horizon in advance of the Sun. From October 5, the whole baby could be seen in a completely dark sky (i.e., when the Sun was 18 or more degrees below the horizon).

As the coma grew in size each day (from about 1 degree in length on October 2 to almost 6 degrees on October 15), the brightness would have been distributed over a larger area, diluting it. Of course, the darkening of the background sky counterbalanced this effect. More important, the unusual geometry of the comet relative to the Sun and Earth was intensifying the apparent magnitude beyond what calculations based on the absolute magnitude would suggest. Every day the comet came closer and closer to the Earth-Sun line (i.e., its “phase angle” increased), boosting the brightness of the comet due to the phenomenon of “forward-scattering.” On September 30 the “phase angle” of the nucleus was 84 degrees; on October 11 it was 133 degrees, which gave the comet a 1-magnitude boost.
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Nevertheless, the increase in the comet's size may well have caused it to fade from daytime visibility more quickly than its apparent magnitude values and phase angle would suggest.