http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090220.html
<<Explanation: Dark nebulae snake across a gorgeous expanse of stars in this telescopic view toward the pronounceable constellation Ophiuchus and the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. In fact, the twisting central shape seen here is well known as the Snake Nebula. It is also listed as Barnard 72 (B72), one of 182 dark markings of the sky cataloged in the early 20th century by astronomer E. E. Barnard. Unlike bright emission nebulae and star clusters, Barnard's nebulae are interstellar dark clouds of obscuring gas and dust. Their shapes are visible in cosmic silhouette because they lie in the foreground along the line of sight to rich star fields and glowing stellar nurseries near the plane of our Galaxy. Many of Barnard's dark nebulae are themselves likely sites of future star formation. Barnard 72 is about 650 light years away.
With bluish star 44 Ophiuchi at bottom left, the intriguing star field spans nearly 2 degrees or almost 20 light-years at the estimated distance of the Snake Nebula. >>
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Bluish star 44 Ophiuchi is the line connected
"pinkie toe star" in this early 17th century Kepler drawing:
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And 44 Ophiuchi is also the star closest to Mars
in this Wed 1604 Oct 6 18:30 UTC view: http://tinyurl.com/bwxupa
The Snake Nebula lies in a position (near the ecliptic) that is
the mirror image of Mars vis-a-vis the nearby 44 Ophiuchi
or on the top center of the foot in Kepler drawing above.
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[Note: For historical purposes only.http://www.ips-planetarium.org/planetarian/articles/common_errors_xmas.html wrote:---------------------------------------------------------------
Common Errors in "Star of Bethlehem" Planetarium Shows
by John Mosley, Griffith Observatory
<<The massing of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in 1604 was awaited with
anticipation. "Somee watched to correct their ephemerides, some for the
sake of pleasure, some because of the rarity of the occasion, some to
verify their predictions, and others, indeed, to see if there would be
a comet as had been expressly predicted by the astrology of the Arabs,"
Kepler wrote (Opera Omnia vol. II, p.617, as quoted by
BurkeGaffney). Mars came first into conjunction with Saturn,
on September 26, and then with Jupiter on October 9.
Although Kepler missed this last event because of clouds,
others in Europe saw the two planets and noted nothing amiss.
On October 10 a new star, as bright as Jupiter, was spotted essentially
between Jupiter & Saturn, which themselves were only 9 degrees apart.
Kepler observed it carefully until it faded into the sun's glare
the following year, and later wrote a book De Stella Nova in
Pede Serpentarii (About the New Star in the Serpent Holder's Foot).
While writing this book, Kepler came across a work by Laurence
Suslyga of Poland that argued that Christ was born in 4 B.C.
Kepler noticed that this was shortly after a triple conjunction that
he calculated had occurred in 7 B.C., and wondered if there was a
connection. In 1614 he published his conclusions: the triple conjunction
of 7 B.C. was followed by a massing of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in 6
B.C., and just as the conjunction and massing of 1603 4 had produced a
new star, so the events of 7 6 B.C. had produced a miraculous nova, and
THAT NOVA was the Star of Bethlehem. The biblical triple conjunction
took place in Pisces, but the massing that followed took place
in Aries -- one of the fiery signs -- just as the massing
of 1604 had also taken place in a fiery sign.
Kepler believed that the star over Bethlehem was a nova placed
there specifically to alert and guide the magi. He wrote,
"I do not doubt but that God would have condescended
to cater to the credulity of the Chaldeans.>>
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