CAN BE SEEN HERE IN EARLY MORNING

Chronicle (Levin), 3 December 1949, Page 5

CAN BE SEEN HERE IN EARLY MORNING

WELLINGTON, Dec. 2. Referring to the New York cable on the Christmas star the director of the Carter Observatory, Ma* I. 1.. Thomsen, said there was nothing nnraculons about its appearance. It had been predicted a long tiine ago and'astronomers knew it was going to appear. There was a theory in the United Btates that this was the Star of the East seen bv the wise men. before the birth oi Christ, but that may have been the conjunction of certain of the planets in sueh a way as to group them. so close as to make them appear tas one bright objeet. This theory, however, seemed to be supported only in thp United States. He did not know that astro'nomical science altogether agreed, nor had it been aetually defined, ,what the wise men saw. This particnlar conjunction was not peculiar to the United States. Saturn and Atars could be seen all over the world, including New Zealand. The actual conjunction occurred on November 30) but the planets were still fairly close together and visible to the naked eye at present. They were rising in the sky about 1 a.m. and any one wishing to see them could vdo so after they cleared the horizon about 30 minutes later. In a month or two they would come into the evening sky, rising earlier, and by February or Mareh would be visible through a telescope thougk mueh more apart.