OK, hold on to your hat for this one. On the eclipse theme, I found a NASA page on Eclipses of Historal Interest.



November 24th, 29 A.D. there was a total solar eclipse. Interesting, that's around the time of the crucifixion of Christ. (Jesus was born around 3 or 4 BC, and lived to an age of around 33 or so.) The Gospel of Luke reports darkness for 3 hours at the death of Christ- and gives a rough time frame. The totality of darkness for this eclipse lasted for 2 minutes. Don't know how long the total transit lasted.

Was this eclipse even visible in the Middle East? Earth's a big place, ya know. Check this out- Totallity centers straight over Jerusalem!

Now, the Jewish calendar is a lunar based calendar. Passover had 2 feasts- the 1st and the 15 of the month. (See the book of Exodus in the Old Testament) The first festival would be at full moon. The second at new moon. Lunar eclipses, be definition, always happen at full moon. Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, but it's not clear to me which feast was the Last Supper. One would presume the first, as the disciples spent weeks hanging around town after the crucifixion. (See also Pentecost, and the book of Acts)

So, if this eclipse is the reason for Luke's reported darkness, we can scientifically pinpoint the moment of Christ's death within a couple hours, possibly even minutes. Not just the year- the exact year, month, day of week, day, hour. Gives me shivers.