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Show The Star of Bethlehem' is jerky but fun to watch by Rick Brough The Hansen Planetarium's traditional holiday show, "The Star of Bethlehem," is probably its best known and popular program. Ironically, it's weaker than other Hansen Han-sen shows I've seen. The star show is entertaining, enter-taining, as always, but it doesn't have one main topic to carry the whole show. It's disconnected, except for its link to the Christmas theme and star-gazing. The show asks: What could be the explanation, in astronomy terms, for the appearance of the bright star which attracted the three Magi to the manger at Bethlehem. It had to be something so unusual that it would astound the three learned men (who, even for that time, were well-acquainted well-acquainted with astronomical astronomi-cal happenings. The lecture considers such sources as a meteor or a major comet, but rules them out. Learned men had such things before, and scientific records by the Chinese (which were very good) indicate in-dicate no such sightings were made around the time of Christ's birth. The narrator finally points out that at the time, three planets were in a triangular conjunction, a very unusual happening. But there's still no explanation for how it "ould be seen as a star shape. There it leaves the question, with the religious (and UFO watchers) free to make their own conclusions about Christ's birth. But when was Christ born? In one of the program's many fascinating side trips, the narrator does some detective work with Biblical hints and science records. He hypothesizes that Jesus was born in 6 or 7 B.C. (There's a sentence that bites its own tail!) The program also shows that the birth was in spring, and celebrated at that time of year by early Christians. But as the faith was persecuted, per-secuted, they felt the need to become less conspicuous. So 'iiey celebrated Christmas in a quiet fashion on Dec. 25, the holiday of Saturnalia, when Romans made noise and exchanged gifts. (And maybe one early Christian even thought to himself, "The whole thing is getting commercialized.") Later, said the narrator, the Roman Empire turned Christian itself, ana uie rulers felt uncomfortable about having the two holidays together. As a compromise, a more hedonistic holiday was scheduled one week later. Yep. New Year's Day. Many Christmas traditions tra-ditions sprang from the people's yearnings for the return of spring. Celebrations used the pine tree because it stayed green in the grip of winter. The program also points out constellations in the sky, like Orion the Hunter, Taurus the Bull and the Dog Stars. But this is draggy, and done in such elementary language that it seems pitched pit-ched at kids. "Star of Bethlehem" is filled with fun, information and interesting sights (ending (en-ding with a panorama of the Salt Lake Valley that shows details like the U. Medical Center and the Salt Palace). With all its discursiveness, it's still a fast, breezy dose of education. |