There is another interesting moment that Grzegorz Górny describes in his book. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the way to Jesus was shown to the three wise men by the brightest of stars. They saw it in the sky and went in its direction. To confirm this, Grzegorz Górny turned to specialists from the observatory at the oldest university in Poland – Jagiellonian University. They were able to generate a star map of the sky at that time. Thanks to our knowledge of astronomy, we know that 2,000 years ago, in the constellation Pisces, there was a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. This phenomenon was discovered in 1603 by Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer and mathematician who discovered of the laws of planetary motion. The two planets appeared very close to each other in the sky, virtually ‘merged’. This created the impression that a big, new star had appeared in the sky.
Apparently, the great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter happens once every 400 years. It is possible the magi saw it. It shocked Kepler, who described it. Those of us with a clear sky got to see it on 21st December 2020, though most of us only got to see it over the Internet. However, if you find yourself in Poland on 6th January, you can see the colourful procession of the three kings, stop by the church to hear Christmas carols, take a piece of white chalk as a souvenir – and maybe write ‘K+M+B’ on your own door.
Originally written in Russian, 6 Jan 2017; translated by KA, Jan 2017; updated by AZ, Jan 2021
