Star of Bethlehem

(This column was published on Monday, December 23, 1996 in The Buffalo News.)

   Lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came 
and stood over where the young child was.

   That description of what has come to be known as the Star of Bethlehem 
appears in the biblical Gospel According to St. Matthew (ii: 9). Its beacon 
had first heralded the birth of Jesus Christ and now it would guide King 
Herod's deputies, the wise men, to the village where their Messiah had been 
born.

   On Wednesday Christians will celebrate that Nativity, surely the central 
event of their religion. To most of them the Star of Bethlehem is simply a 
part of their unquestioning faith, but to a few it also invites scientific 
confirmation. Too often science and religion come into conflict, but this time 
such a problem does not arise. That does not mean, however, that scientists 
agree on what was the Christmas star.

   It is remarkable how astronomers can recreate the appearance of those 
heavens two millennia ago. They wind history backward or forward as though 
they were H. G. Wells' fictional character manipulating his time machine. From 
information gathered about contemporary skies, they extrapolate through 
centuries with amazing speed and accuracy. This is done today with the power 
of computers, but it is humbling to note that Johannes Kepler performed 
similar computations 400 years ago, long before the most elementary 
calculation devices were developed.

   Many astronomical phenomena could have served as that unusually bright Star 
of Bethlehem. If we knew the year of the original Christmas, we could choose 
among them, but unfortunately the history of those times is not accurate 
enough. Those of you who think -- as I did -- that Christ's birthdate marked 
the zero of our calendar, the separation between B.C. and A.D., are in error. 
Even December 25 was chosen centuries after the event, evidence pointing to a 
spring or fall date for Christmas.

   But historical and biblical detective work narrows the window. The birth 
must have occurred between 8 B.C. when Augustus Caesar's census required 
Joseph to return to Bethlehem and either 4 or 2 B.C. when Herod died.

   In that time frame here are some of the Christmas Star candidates:

   7 B.C. -- Jupiter and Saturn appear close together in the skies three 
times. In January of the next year they regroup with Mars joining them. We 
will witness that rare proximity of those three planets again in the year 
2000.

   March, 5 B.C. -- Chinese astronomers record a comet.

   April, 4 B.C. -- This time the Chinese witness a "tailless comet," which 
may have been a supernova. Supernovas are stars that suddenly flare up, 
emitting hundreds of times as much light for a few months. In 1573 Tycho Brahe 
witnessed one so bright that it was visible in daytime.

   August 12, 3 B.C. and then again June 17, 2 B.C. -- Venus and Jupiter align 
so closely they appear as one light source. Later that year the "king" planet 
Jupiter approaches the "king" star Regulus in the constellation Leo.

   Other possibilities include meteors, fireballs, ball lightning or even 
zodiacal light.

   Different authors have supported one or another of these candidates. For 
example, in David Hughes 1979 book, "The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer's 
Confirmation," he argues for the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions and from this 
conjecture and other information goes on to nominate September 15, 7 B.C. for 
Christ's birthday.

   The faithful require none of these computations. That science provides 
choices among these physical phenomena is intriguing but unnecessary. To them 
the Star of Bethlehem is simply another miracle.

   Happy holidays to all.