Later at home, I checked Stellarium, a very good, free astronomy program, on the computer and saw the star was actually Jupiter (see screenshot below), which I remember from Ernest L. Martin’s book, The Star That Astonished The World, where he showed with very convincing evidence from his stellar research, the “star” he believed the Wise Men followed to Bethlehem was also Jupiter, which actually did hover over Bethlehem on 3 or 2 BC, exactly when Christ was born.

Even more interesting, I saw in Stellarium that Saturn and Venus were making a line with Jupiter on Christmas night, in a similar way to the stars of Orion’s Belt (see screenshot above). I couldn’t see Saturn or Venus at sunset, though, because of the sun’s glow.

This alignment peaked my interest further, so I looked at time-lapse views of the alignment for the days ahead and saw that Venus would go out of alignment with Jupiter and Saturn, but was quickly replaced with Mercury in a similar alignment (see below).

I’m not an avid astronomer, so I don’t know how often an alignment like this happens, but from my limited experience with the stars, I know it is very infrequent, and my being in the right place at the right time to see the Christmas Star while driving home was another instance of God’s perfect timing to inspire me. This kind of supposedly "accidental" serendipity has happened to me more than I can count now.

My being in Florida to help with my mother’s retirement home for Christmas this year played a critical role as well. If I were back home in Minnesota, I very likely would not have seen the Christmas Star at sunset, since I'm usually always in the house on holidays. Time and place played important roles here, and now I saw a very unusual double-alignment of the stars happening in the near future on the sunset horizon.

There weren’t that many options since I was in Florida, close to the coast, and would quickly run to the Gulf of Mexico on the map. My best guess was the star pointed somewhere in between Crystal Bay and Homosassa Bay, which was interesting, because just a day or so earlier, I was sightseeing near where the star was pointing, an area called Kings Bay.

This is another unusual alignment. Was this year’s Christmas Star pointing to Kings Bay, like the Star of Bethlehem pointed to our King Messiah? Another odd thing about King’s Bay was I already knew about it because of researching the area for my mother’s retirement.

I found it strange there was a King’s Bay in Florida where we were going to travel when I had named a bay in my Irish adventure novel, Aching Prosperity, the same thing many years ago, except I used the Irish version – Bá Rí (pronounced “Bah Ree”). This would be another very non-coincidental alignment with my path in Irish culture and Aching Prosperity. You'll find more examples on the Where The Fairytale Is Real page.

On top of that, God gave me big reminders around the same time I got the new phone that told me to stop working so much and find personal happiness. The Lord reminded me of my past as a romantic artist. Now this new link with a real Christmas Star to Kings Bay and my creative and romantic work in Aching Prosperity seem to be God’s continued reminder towards personal pursuits.

When I realized the Christmas Star I saw made unusual alignments with other stars, I felt like one of the Wise Men journeying to Bethlehem. Except, I’m sure their journey was planned well in advance, while I seemed to stumble on this very unusual sequence of stars in what is God’s serendipity and predestiny – not a fortuitous, happy accident, which is the dictionary definition of serendipity, but something with God’s plan in it. It would have all been hidden to me if the Lord had not timed everything so perfectly. Praise Him for His wonders!

I feel the Lord is telling me to go see what's on the horizon when Venus is replaced with Mercury at sunset, which happens on January 8th or 9th, 2022. The moon also comes very close to lining up with the planets on the same dates, as well, though it does not seem to be a perfect alignment, and it is likely the lower stars on the horizon will not be visible at all when I go see them, because as the sun sets, the stars also move lower and may disappear under the horizon before they become visible as the sky darkens. We’ll have to see what happens.

Last night, I decided to try and capture the Christmas Star alignment at the farthest point I could reach on the west coast where Kings Bay is. The weather was warm (80F) and the sky towards the west was mostly clear (photo below).

The plover below looks a bit sad in its painted rendition.

There was a sail surfer playing on the waves at sunset. It was very windy on the beach, so it was perfect for sailing.

As the sun went down, the clouds made "God rays," (photos below) which usually describe visible shafts of light in dim settings, usually caused by light beams hitting dust in the air. Tonight the rays seem to be made by thin clouds in the sky.

The sun set fairly quickly as I watched (photo below). It only seemed like a couple minutes for it to disappear.

At 6:20 pm, I saw the Christmas Star, Jupiter (photo below). The alignment is actually very close to west where the sun set, as you can see by the bright glow below the star. Stellarium makes it look like the alignment is much farther south if you go back to the screenshots above.

My Canon DSLR (photo below) is responsible for most of the pictures taken after the sun sets.

At 6:18 pm, all of the stars of the alignment (Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus) are barely visible. I also caught Mercury, which will replace Venus as the bottom star in the alignment this coming weekend.

Below is a photo of the stars with labels in case you can't see them in the photo above.

Below is a higher resolution photo of all the stars if you have a larger screen to view the bigger image.

Just ten minutes later, Venus is too low to see on the horizon (photo below).

Afterwards, only Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury are visible (photo below). In the following days, Mercury will move to align with Jupiter and Saturn as Venus did, while Venus likely will not be visible anymore after sunset.

Mangrove trees have roots that grow up and out of the salt water so the tree can breathe better (below).

Settling into my photo spot for the night, there are a lot more seabirds on the beach than last time (below).

And after they saw me snacking, they converged on me and tried to find my food when I walked away. They were very keen to get my snacks. One was bold enough to try and snatch it from my hand.

There were a lot of skimmers today too. I'm familiar with them from watching nature documentaries. I never saw them in the States before.

The moon was visible when I got to the beach, but it's barely noticeable in photos. Below you can see the small crescent above and left of the green lens flare dot. The moon looks much bigger in person.

As the sky dims, the cameras can get slightly better pictures of the moon (below), but it's still very small in photos.

Here's a shot of the moon with a telephoto lens on the DSLR (below).

At about 6:10 pm, the Christmas Star (Jupiter) is visible near the moon (below).

Tonight, the other stars took a much longer time to appear. Jupiter was the only star out for a while (below).

As I waited for the rest of the stars to come out, all the birds left, except the plovers. They ran around the shoreline looking for food well after sunset (photos below).

Venus is no longer visible in the alignment, because it sets below the horizon before the sky is dim enough to see it. But Mercury will replace Venus in the alignment on the night of the 8th. Tonight, Mercury is still a little out of line with Jupiter and Saturn.

Below is a better shot of the alignment with the moon.

Behind me was the constellation Orion (below).

I feel the night of the 8th on this beach is the when and where God was leading me towards when I first came across this alignment on Christmas night. What will time and space reveal?

It was a warm sunny day, more typical of Florida, unlike the chilly night I had last time. I went to the beach early to relax (photo below) until it was time to capture the final alignment of the Christmas Star (Jupiter) with Saturn and Mercury. If you read the posts before this, you will remember that Venus was the lowest star in the alignment, but it has moved out of alignment and is now too low on the horizon after sunset to be visible. Tonight, Mercury replaces Venus as the lowest star in the alignment.

At low tide, you can find a lot of holes with tiny crabs among the mangrove roots (below).

Like the other day, the beach was full of seabirds, but no skimmers today. One seagull was acting peculiar by standing on one leg for some minutes.

The moon was visible and high in the sky when I arrived (below). I knew it might be too high to photograph with the alignment based on what I saw in Stellarium, but I thought there was a chance it would move low enough to photograph with the alignment by the time the stars came out.

Like the other nights I went to get photographs, the sunsets proved to be spectacular (photos below). There always seemed to be the right amount of clouds to make gorgeous fiery, marbled skies.

By 6:00 pm, I can see the moon is getting low enough to photograph with the stars of the alignment.

The Christmas Star is just becoming visible in the photos below. I also noticed some unusual "God rays" from the sunset tonight. This beach seemed to produce a lot of them the last two times I was here.

At 6:35 pm, I could see all the stars of the alignment (Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury). They looked to be in near perfect alignment, and the moon above them was close to lining up with them too (below).

Below is my last shot of the alignment at 6:46 pm with labels (wait for them).

God's Christmas Star this year ultimately points me to Ireland. So I will have to see how He leads me there.