Genesis 5: Part 17 Other Astronomical Events
What about other astronomical events? Do they feature amongst these numbers? I went through the data and tried to draw out any interesting connections.
Conjunctions
A conjunction is where two planets coincide in the sky.
Where Jupiter and Saturn are in conjunction, it is known as the Great Conjunction. It occurs roughly every 7,250 days. If we add up all the lifespans minus Enoch (as he went to Heaven), we get the result of 7,260.
I was able to find conjunctions for Mars & Jupiter (approx 990) and Mars & Saturn (approx 750 days).
Mars / Jupiter Conjunction
Mars / Saturn Conjunction
I am convinced over the Great Conjunction and the Mars / Jupiter conjunctions, but less so of the Mars / Saturn one. The other planetary conjunctions are less uniform, so the astronomical data maybe in their, but more research needs to be carried out.
Eclipses
I couldn’t find any eclipse data in these figures. Though I have found it elsewhere in Genesis. I will mention this in a later post.
Comets
Some comets visit the inner solar system on a regular basis. Some have been named after the people that discovered them, especially the brighter ones which can be seen with the naked eye.
Halley’s Comet was recorded by Edmond Halley in 1758. It has been calculated that the comet returns to the inner Solar System every 75-79 years. This equates to between 27,375 and 28,835 days.
If we add up all the numbers in the 2nd Heavens and multiply by 3, we get 27,504 days.
The Swift-Tuttle comet returns every 133 years or 48,545 days. If we take all the years after the patriarch begets their eldest child and add the age at which Enoch was taken, we get 6,934. If we multiply this by 7, we get 48,538. This is very close, but I feel nervous about accepting that the ancient cultures were aware of this comet and how long it took to return. Though it can be drawn from the data.
And finally, I wish this was true. There is a comet called 153P/Ikeya-Zhang whose orbit takes 366 years. This would be the ultimate in symbolic time-keeping, a solar year times a solar leap year.
This comet takes 133,590 days to return to the inner Solar System.
If we add up all the numbers for the 3rd Heavens and the 2nd Heavens we get 11,028. If we multiply this by 12 we get 132,336. This is very close.
What is interesting about these comets are the multipliers used, 3, 7 and 12. All these numbers are important in Biblical symbolism. These all may be strange coincidences, but the astronomical information can be drawn from the data. Clearly, more research needs to be carried out to either prove or disprove this hypothesis.
The next post will look at why the Bible writer used a genealogy to hold this astronomical data
Correlation or causation? Since you found some baseline astronomical artifacts in the ages, everything else is bound to have some connection, since the orbits are not randomly defined but intricately connected by gravitational forces. Long period comets are influenced by jupiter's gravity for example, so it makes sense that there would be some synchronicity in the orbits and jupiter.
It makes sense to me also that God uses the same tools to make the stars as he uses to make us, so it is logical for there to be some synchronicity over all, as well.
Great post--really enjoying this series, really boondoggled by it all. Not sure what to think quite yet, I feel as if I am waiting for a punch line.
Keep up the good work!