Simon Wade
A BRITISH expat photographer has captured the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter, aka the Star of Bethlehem.
Alexander James caught the remarkable moment from his apartment terrace in Callas Blanca, Torrevieja.
The visible passing of the two huge planets happens once every 400 to 800 years.
This gave Alexander and many other snappers around the world the very first opportunity to make a photographic record of the event.
While much of the UK suffered typically poor weather last night, skies above coastal Spain were crystal clear.
The last time the so-called ‘great conjunction’ occurred is believed to have been in 1623.
However, according to Space.com, it would have only been visible to people living in the tropics near the equatorial regions.
That’s because people in other latitudes, such as New York, Paris, London and Tokyo, would have been too close to the glare of the sun.
The last time the galactic wonder was seen by the majority of planet Earth was on March 5, 1226, when the two planets were even closer together than they are this time around.
In the year 7 BC, the so-called Star of Bethlehem or Christmas Star met on three occasions, in May, September and December.
The story goes that its first appearance, visible ‘in the east’ before sunrise, began the three Magi’s journey to Bethlehem while the final showing took place on December 5, just as they arrived to meet with King Herod in Judea, who gave orders to find the baby Jesus.
