Astronomy concerns the earth, sun, moon, stars, and planets as observed in the heavens. Alma points to “the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it,” including its motion, and to “all the planets which move in their regular form” as witnesses of a Supreme Creator (Alma 30:44). Another statement says, “surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun” (Helaman 12:15).
Signs of Christ’s birth included “great lights in heaven,” a night without darkness, and “a new star” unlike any previously beheld (Helaman 14:3-6). A sign of his death included a darkened sun that would “refuse to give his light,” together with darkness of the moon and stars (Helaman 14:20).
Prophecy declares that “the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light,” while the sun and moon also darken (2 Nephi 23:10). During the later darkness, no light was seen from “the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars” because of the mists over the land (3 Nephi 8:22).