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88 Star of Bethlehem

Star of Bethlehem:

The astronomical

explanations

by Victoria Gill

This debate requires one very big assumption -
that the story of the star and the journey is true.
Prof David Hughes, an astronomer from
the University of Sheffield, first published a
review of the theories on the famous star in the
1970s.
Having spent many years studying the
astronomical explanations and reviewing the
associated biblical stories, he is now an expert
on the subject.
But there are some intriguing historical
parallels.
The three kings were religious scholars
known as the Magi - revered Babylonian
astronomers and astrologists. They studied the
stars and planets, interpreting the meaning
behind cosmic events.
Anything very unusual was considered
an omen, so the star must have been both rare
and visually spectacular. And, says Hughes, it
would have had a very clear message for the all the boxes." McCallion Planetarium at McMaster University
Magi. The second favoured explanation is a in Ontario says a nova is "a good candidate" for
This leads the astronomer to conclude very bright comet. the star of Bethlehem.
that the star of Bethlehem was probably not a While certainly spectacular and ethereal "It can 'appear' as a new star in a
star at all, and that it was more than one single in appearance, comets are essentially "big, dirty constellation, and fade again over the following
event. snowballs" flying through space. months," he explains.
"When they come close to the Sun, this "It is also not too bright, explaining why
"If you read the Bible carefully," says Hughes, ice melts - solar wind blows this material out we don't have any records of it in the west."
"the Magi saw something when they were in into space, so you get a tail of matter coming off Cockcroft suggests that this might also have
their own country - [probably Babylon] - so they the comet," explains O'Brien. given the three wise men something to follow.
travelled to Jerusalem and had a word with King This tail, which points away from the While other "omens" would have been
Herod." Sun, is one of the things that has made the comet needed to cause the Magi to set out on their
According to the story, the Magi told idea popular, explains Hughes. journey west to Jerusalem, he says , it would
Herod of the sign they had seen and, says "Quite a few people have said that take them months to get there, "by which time
Hughes, "when they left Jerusalem [for] comets seem to 'stand over' the Earth, because of Aquila [and the new star could have] risen in the
Bethlehem, they saw something again". their coma and tail sometimes looking like an sky to appear in the south.
Hughes's best explanation for this series arrow," says Hughes. "Bethlehem lies due south of Jerusalem,
of events is something known as a triple The most timely record was of a bright so that Magi could 'follow' the star to
conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn - with comet appearing in the constellation of Bethlehem."
the two planets coming close together in the sky Capricorn in 5BC, which was recorded by Other more improbable but entertaining
three times over a short period. astronomers in China. theories have been proposed over the years, says
"[This happens when] you get an A less likely, but more famous candidate Hughes.
alignment between the Sun, the Earth, Jupiter was Halley's comet, which was visible around One he describes as particularly far-
and Saturn," says Hughes. 12BC. fetched was suggested in a 1979 academic paper
Tim O'Brien, associate director of Those who favour this theory point out by the Greek astronomer George Banos. He
Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, suggests that the 5BC comet would have been in the proposed that the Christmas star was actually the
this would have looked striking. "It's remarkable southern sky as seen from Jerusalem, with the planet Uranus.
how much your attention is drawn when two head of the comet close to the horizon and the Banos suggested that the Magi
very bright objects come together in the sky," he tail is pointing vertically upward. discovered the planet 1,800 years before the
explains. "Quite a lot of people liked the comet astronomer William Herschel formally recorded
And once the planets lined up in their idea, so it crops up in quite a lot of Christmas the discovery in 1781.
orbits, Earth would "overtake" the others, cards," says Hughes. "His idea was that the Magi discovered
meaning that Jupiter and Saturn would appear to "The snag is that they're not that rare. Uranus, that this was the star of Bethlehem and
change direction in the night sky. They were also commonly associated with the they then tried to hush up the discovery,"
"At that time, people would have set 'four Ds' - doom, death, disease and disaster," he Hughes explains. []
great store by the motions of the planets," says suggests. "So if it did contain a message, it
O'Brien. would have been a bad omen."
Even more significantly, the event is Another theory is that the star was light MERRY CHRISTMAS &
believed to have been in the constellation Pisces, from the birth of a new star, or nova. HAPPY NEW YEAR
which represents one of the signs of the zodiac. There are records - again from FROM
"You would [only] get a triple astronomers in the Far East - of a new star in the EVERYONE AT
conjunction like this about every 900 years," he small, northern constellation of Aquila in 4BC. X Z B N
says, so for astronomers in Babylon 2,000 years Hughes says: "People who like this
ago, it would have been a signal of something theory say this new star would have been MASTER CONTROL
very significant. [positioned] directly over Jerusalem." IN HAMILTON, ON.
"A triple conjunction of this kind ticks Dr Robert Cockcroft, manager of the