The Three Wise Men and the Three Pyramids, and the Star

The discovery of a Roman coin from 6 BC gave one astronomer a key to unraveling the mystery of the legendary star. The coin shows a ram looking back over his shoulder at a huge star. Michael Molnar bought a coin from Antioch, Syria in 1990; the result was a book, The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi that unravels the identity of the Star of Bethlehem.

Aussie aborigines were first astronomers?

I came across an interesting article in ABC.net on the traitions and myths of the aborigines in Australia. The named one constellation the Great Emu, and use it to time their egg-collecting.

Saturn’s Aurora and Moon Enceladus in the News

Saturn’s Moon did Cosmic Flop
Saturn’s moon Enceladus might have rolled over on its side sometime in the past, a suggestion that would account for a strange finding made by the Cassini spacecraft.
Saturn’s Aurora Dazzles with Mysterious Light
“We’ve never seen an aurora like this elsewhere,” said Tom Stallard, an RCUK Academic Fellow working with Cassini data at the University of Leicester. “It’s not just a ring of aurorae like those we’ve seen at Jupiter or Earth.”

Saturn’s Rings Might Be Even More Ancient Than We Thought

The study’s computer simulation showed how the planet’s rings could date back billions of years ago to the early ages of the solar system, rather than only 100 million years ago.

August Astronomy Notes From Around the Local Galaxy

Mars Could Be Between Ice Ages
After examining stunning high-resolution images taken last year by the Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers have documented for the first time that ice packs at least 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) thick and perhaps 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) thick existed along Mars’ mid-latitude belt as recently as 100 million years ago. In addition, the team believes other images tell them that glaciers flowed in localized areas in the last 10 to 100 million years – a blink of the eye in Mars’s geological timeline.
Have I Mentioned the Coolest Animated ‘Planetarium’ Online?
For a little astronomy and astrology fun go to Shadow & Substance website. They have the coolest animations of solar and lunar eclipses plus the Perseid meteor showers and Comet Holmes. The website is http://shadowandsubstance.com/. Everything is free; they even have links where you can download the software for an animated image of the night sky from wherever you are located.