The star of Bethlehem was not a star, so what was it?
That astronomical puzzle is among the questions posed by a planetarium show put on this month by the York County Astronomical Society at the York Learning Center in North York.
The 25-minute, pre-recorded show prompts stargazers to imagine the sky as it might have looked the night the shepherds kept watch over their flocks in the hills surrounding Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth (thought to be between 10 and 2 B.C.).
For centuries, historians, astronomers, curious Christians and others have speculated on what manner of natural heavenly light led the wise men to the manger in Bethlehem.
Some scholars have argued the story, found in the second chapter of Matthew, was not meant to be read as fact.
Others, including many Christians, believe the star actually appeared over historic Bethlehem, leading the wise men (Magi) from the east.
After seeing the YCAS show Saturday, 24-year-old Denny Daugherty, of Dover, said he found the proposed theories intriguing-
"It's just another way to appreciate God's creation," he said.
So what could account for the Christmas star?
It has been identified as a comet, Halley's Comet, an exploding star, meteors, or the planets and how they sometimes move into alignment - a Mars/Jupiter/Saturn conjunction, a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn and the occultation of Jupiter by Venus.
The script of the North York show was written in the 1970s by a pair of amateur astronomers and educators, George Reed and Gerald Mallon. It leaves the impression that a conjunction of planets - what would appear from Earth to be a gathering of planets in the night sky - is the most favored scientific explanation for the star.
Astronomers have calculated that in 7 B.C., Jupiter and Saturn appeared to come very close to one another, making the planets appear to merge (Saturn was, of course, millions of miles deeper in space). Mars moved in a year later and created a grouping of Jupiter-Saturn-Mars.
The timing works out as historians estimate that Jesus was born a few years before the end of the B.C. era, so it's possible the planetary conjunction was the beacon that drew the Magi to Bethlehem.
"But there's no confirmation that's definitely it," said Mike Smith, senior astronomy educator at the North Museum at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.
"It might be an intriguing theory, but it's made of too much speculation."
William Kreiger, assistant professor of earth science at York College, listed simpler explanation: Perhaps the Bethlehem star was a twinkling planet.
"You've got to take into context what the understanding of stars and the heavens and the earth in general 2,000 years ago," Kreiger said.
At that time, people sometimes mistook planets for very bright stars, he explained.
But Kreiger's recollection is that scientists' most oft-mentioned claim is an exploding star (nova or supernova), which flares up thousands of times brighter than a regular star and would have lasted months before fading (long enough for the Magi to get from Persia to Jerusalem).
However, a supernova would have left debris that astronomers would have noticed, said Todd Ullery, a YCAS member from Shrewsbury Township.
Other theories, such as Uranus and ball lightning, have been largely discredited:
Because meteors recur throughout the year, they wouldn't have been seen as a remarkable phenomenon in the night sky, Smith said.
Comets are rarer and not always visible with the naked eye. In antiquity, they were often looked upon as an evil omen, so the Magi probably wouldn't have deemed a comet divinely inspired, Smith said.
And a comet doesn't fit the fleeting star reference in Matthew: A comet would not move in a southerly direction or stop over a certain city or house.
Greg Carey, a New Testament scholar at Lancaster Theological Seminary, interprets the star as a literary device - one used to explain why Jesus' birth matters.
"In the ancient world people frequently claimed that the arrival of a new king or emperor was signaled by a new star," he said by e-mail.
"Matthew is probably appealing to that tradition in his story, saying that astrological portents attended Jesus' birth, just as they do his death later in the Gospel."
An article in Sky & Telescope magazine this month by student Aaron Adair suggests any search for an astronomical star of Bethlehem is fatally flawed - a misguided attempt to force science on a faith-based story.
He compares the astronomical theories behind the fabled star and concludes none are plausible when examined against the description of the star's behavior in Matthew's original Greek.
"Essentially, today's authors and planetarium directors proposing an astronomical star are two centuries behind in biblical scholarship," wrote Adair, a show presenter at Abrams Planetarium and a math, physics and astronomy student at Michigan State University.
"A believer can posit that the star was a local miracle that the Magi alone could see. A historian can only regard the tale as fictional or at least not investigable. In either case, astronomy is irrelevant."
The Star of Bethelehem:
3 Wise Men following the Star:
GOOD CLEAR SKIES HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A GOOD 2008......
Comets at Christmas and the warm fireside
