'Moon illusion' with Jupiter tonight The Moon will rise tonight (Monday Dec.23) soon after 6pm with the planet Jupiter blazing just to its right. This would normally be a spectacular sight in its own right, but it will be all the more interesting as the Moon 'looks larger' when it is on the horizon (some say it looks like you're viewing it through binoculars!). So Jupiter shining brightly next to this 'big Moon' will be a sight not to be missed. P.S. TELESCOPES FOR CHRISTMAS. Read the warnings our website (http://www.astronomy.ie). Almost everybody in Ireland buys their telescope from us. We have sold out of several models but it looks like we will still have some of the amazing Celestron Firstscope 70EQs which I was extremely impressed by so we bought very large quantity to get price down 107euro, from 506 to 399 for you! Once our stock sells out the price will have to go up a little so avail of this offer now, or first thing in January if we have any of the current stock then. (I could see detail on Mars with this scope in summer 2001, textbook diffration rings on both stars in Gamma Andromedae, superb optics, piggyback photography, I recommend the FS70EQ very highly). ***STOP PRESS*** STAR OF BETHLEHEM: Astronomy Ireland Chairman David Moore will be on MORNING IRELAND (RTE RADIO 1) on Christmas Eve morning (exact time not available but the show runs from 7am-9am) and again on 2FM GERRY RYAN SHOW Friday Jan. 3 at 11am (just after the News). Both interviews will be about the Star of Bethlehem, prompted by Venus blazing in morning skies over Christmas (see magazine Sky Diary pages). We've been getting a lot of calls asking what is that bright thing in the East every morning and could it be the Christmas Star? Answer: NO, but we do believe we know what the Star of Bethlehem was: a triple conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces in 7BC leading to an exact birth time for Jesus Christ of Tuesday evening, 15th September 7BC. To hear the details tune in to both shows (2FM likely to be the more lengthy) or if you miss either you can go to www.rte.ie and hear recordings of shows, certainly for Gerry Ryan Show (I've done it often) and almost certainly for Morning Ireland (they email me links to clips every day). Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at Astronomy Ireland. ===== David Moore BSc FRAS, Chairman, Astronomy Ireland, P.O.Box 2888, Dublin 5. Editor, "Astronomy & Space" magazine. ASTRONOMY SHOP: open Mon.-Fri. 9:30am-5:30pm and Sat. noon-6pm. Tel (01) 847 0777. Fax (01) 847 0771. www.astronomy.ie info@astronomy.ie