Do not despair, some of us appreciate a serious article. ;-)
I think one problem modern people, especially living in the many areas of the world with air pollution, have is how dim the stars appear. A few years ago I was at the beach in Chincoteague. VA. There had been rain in the afternoon (clearing the atmosphere), and then a major power failure at least 10 miles up and down the coast. I mean it was DARK!! When we went out to see if our neighbors had lost their electricity, we were astonished at the magnificence of the stars. They looked about 10 times as bright as I had ever seen them. Great gleaming blotches. The planets, being mobile, would have been of special interest to the ancients. As the Chinese report a comet, was there any record of one in the Middle East, besides the biblical account? If it was significant, I should think it might appear in Roman, Greek, or Egyptian records.
There was a hokey Halloween special on TV about why people are afraid of the dark.
In that special they noted that scientists actually have a scale rating darkness on earth from 1 to 10. I forget which way the scale went. But they said that NOWHERE in the U.S. are we TOTALLY free of light pollution. You have to go at least 300 miles from shore or to places like East Africa to experience total darkness at night.
Light pollution seriously interferes with astronomical observations.
Its hard for moderns to appreciate how very impressed the ancients, living in a world without electricity, were impacted by celestial events at night.
I have to check out all of SunkenCivs links and I thank him for those sources.
The link I provided references a book I’d like very much to read.
As a Christian, I believe in Christ, his birth and God generated miracles.
But I think that at times God works “miracles” through very naturally occurring events.
For instance, the fog that came up as Washington was evacuating his troops from the catastrophe on Long Island to safety on Manhattan. Without that fog, the British very well would have captured the entire rebel army and ended the war right there.
And I think that God was very much interested in America at one time and still may be, despite the rejection of Him by the cultural elites.
God works in mysterious ways.
Have a Great Christmas.
That is when she told me she could retire out west without a thought of leaving the east coast.