Overview
- Mark Matney’s study, published in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association, analyzes a bright comet logged by Chinese court astronomers for more than 70 days in spring 5 BC.
- Reconstructed trajectories place the object at roughly lunar distance—about 236,000 to 249,000 miles from Earth—yielding a temporary geosynchronous‑like effect that makes it appear to pause overhead.
- One modeled scenario shows a June morning in 5 BC when, as seen from Judea, the comet aligned with the road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem before lingering near the zenith.
- At that range the comet would have been exceptionally bright, possibly visible in daylight, with the 2014 Siding Spring flyby of Mars cited as evidence that such close approaches can occur.
- The proposal is presented as plausible rather than conclusive, joining hundreds of prior explanations that include planetary conjunction and supernova theories.