Posted: 8/8/03
Astronomers pinpoint Crucifixion time
LONDON (RNS)–Two Romanian astronomers claim to have pinpointed the exact time and date of the Crucifixion of Jesus, the Internet news service Ananova has reported.
According to Liviu Mircea and Tiberiu Oproiu of the Astronomic Observatory Institute in Cluj, Romania, Jesus died at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 3, 33 A.D.
According to their reading of the New Testament data, Jesus was crucified on the day after the first night with a full moon after the vernal equinox. If the Crucifixion took place some time between the years 26 and 35, this could mean either Friday, April 7, 30, or Friday, April 3, 33. But it was only in the latter year that records show a solar eclipse as having occurred in Jerusalem, matching what it recorded in Mark 15:33–“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.”
The two astronomers also timed the Resurrection as having occurred precisely at 4 a.m. the following Sunday, April 5.
Although by biblical accounts, Jesus would have been 33 when crucified, many biblical scholars believe the current Gregorian calendar pegged the year of Jesus' birth incorrectly in setting a starting point for the year Anno Domini. By their reckoning, Jesus would have been born between 3 B.C. and 5 B.C.
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