Stellarium and The Star of Bethlehem

 

I found this over at SouthForte Farms, a blog I like to read.  It's called Stellarium and you can find it at:

www.stellarium.org

It is a free downloadable program that lets you type in the latitude and longitude of your current location and see the star scape that is over you at that moment.  You can even add layers to the stars, like the names of the constellations and over that, the diagrams of the constellations.  We haven't finished checking out the whole site yet but so far we love pulling up the star scape on the computer, then running out to the front yard to check out what we see in the sky.  We have a nice big view of the sky where we live and on a clear night, the stars are incredible. 

Another something we discovered is a documentary called The Star of Bethlehem.

This movie is an amazing presentation on the Star of Bethlehem. Approaching the star from somewhat of a skeptic's viewpoint, presenter Rick Larson uses Biblical and historical clues with some sophisticated astronomy software to take you through what was happening in the sky the night of Jesus' birth.  But what he discovers is more than just that.  He also shows what happened in the sky that set the stage for Jesus' arrival as well as what happened the day of his death...and how all this was set in motion at the time of creation. We have watched it more than once because it's a lot to wrap your brain around actually. But it's a unique and thought-provoking presentation that caused us to stop and consider the vastness of God, his creativity, and the lengths to which he has gone to reveal himself to us.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

Psalm 19:1-4