Re: VMs: Research Note: f67v2

[Rene Zandbergen <r_zandbergen@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Robert Teague <rteague@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> > I've got a color copy of it, but no, I hadn't
> > noticed the green stars. Planets are a good idea,
> > considering the SN was in Ophiuchus, so the
> > Zodiac was just below it.  I'll see what Starry 
> > Night turns up.
> 
> Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were grouped around the
> foot of Ophiuchus, surrounding the supernova. I
> found
> the exact configuration seen in a star atlas of the
> time.
> 
> The supernova was first noticed on 9 October 1604,
> but the planet positions match the green stars best
> on 18 October 1604.

Well, before this is further considered 'evidence',
I would like to point out that the above is
rather a demonstration (to me) that one can
produce celestial phenomena at will, for any
date. It means that earlier such proposed 
identifications could all be coincidental.

Consider:
- the suggestion that the page shows a supernova
  is just a hypothesis, not based on any observation.
  It is not deduced from anything. The page could
  with equal likelihood represent a long
  list of other things
- the suggestion that it is the 1604 supernova
  is equally unfounded. It is also very unlikely,
  since this is something that could not have been
  predicted. I won't say that the MS cannot be from
  after 1604, but it is a possibility which has a 
  very low probability
- the suggestion that the green stars should 
  represent planets is to me equally unfounded.
  I cannot imagine why the illustrator would have
  chosen green to indicate planets. (perhaps it
  is even just an artefact of the image, which seems
  quite bad quality to me).

The fact that there are three planets near the 1604
supernova does not in my opinion make all above
hypothesis the truth. It shows that you can find
celestial phenomena to match just about anything.

In general, though, the effort of trying to match
the cosmo and astro illustrations to facts and
theories of the time is one that I find both
very interesting and hopeful.

Cheers, Rene

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