Wondering about Star of Wonder

Was the Star of Bethlehem actually a star?

"Star of Wonder," a show at Albany's Henry Hudson Planetarium, attempts to answer that question by piecing together astronomical and historical data in order to pinpoint what celestial event is described in chapter 2 of Matthew's Gospel.

The show was authored by Jon Bell, director of the Hallstrom Planetarium at Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Sky kings

The Magi were most likely Babylonian royal astrologers, Mr. Bell told The Evangelist. The ancient Babylonians read the skies for signs and portents, and assigned different meanings to stars and planets.

"In Babylonia, astrology was the coin of the realm," he explained. "But, in Judea, you did not divine the future by looking at the heavens."

Thus, the Star of Bethlehem must have been not only something that affected the Babylonians greatly, but also a vision that had little or no meaning for Herod and his advisors, who, according to Matthew's account, had not seen the star.

Look, up in the sky!

Historians and astronomers have offered a number of options that might have created a light strong enough to lead the Wise Men to Bethlehem:

* Meteors, or "falling stars," exhibit enough light to fit the description of a "Star of Wonder." Unfortunately, they come and go quickly, and could not have possibly guided the Magi farther than a few steps;

* Comets, whose tails could have pointed the way to Bethlehem, are sometimes pictured in Nativity art. The only comet visible to the naked eye in that time, however, was Halley's Comet, which appeared in 12 B.C., far too early to herald the birth of Christ.

* Supernovas -- exploding, dying stars -- were recorded by ancient peoples as "new stars" or "guest stars," according to the show, and would have been quite flashy. Herod, however, would have noticed such a display; besides, no records indicate that a supernova occurred at that time.

Coming together

Eliminating those options leads scholars to consider the most plausible theory: planetary conjunction, which "happens with regularity," Mr. Bell said. "It's just part of the celestial motions that continue to this day. Long ago, they were the mysteries of mysteries."

Astronomer Johannes Kepler was the first to propose, upon viewing a particularly spectacular one in 1602, that a planetary conjunction might have been the Star of Bethlehem.

In 2 B.C., a triple planetary conjunction occurred that would have caught the interest of astrologers: the movement of Jupiter, with its trappings and omens of kingship, towards and from the star Regulus, the "King Star," which the Babylonians associated with the birth of a great king. The Magi might have read that conjunction to mean that a great king or messiah had been born in the West.

According to the show, the final conjunction in this sequence occurred on June 17, 2 B.C., when Venus and Jupiter came together to form a single point of light. This, the show proposes, fits Matthew's description perfectly.

Myth or real?

But was it the Star of Wonder?

"In the end, we truly don't know," said Carol Ann Margolis, an educator at the Henry Hudson Planetarium. Another explanation for the star is less scientific, she said: It was a literary device inserted by Matthew to make Jesus' birth special.

"Fictitious stars made kings and heroes more miraculous" in popular accounts, she said.

("Star of Wonder" will be presented Dec. 20-23, 1:30 p.m. The show costs $4.50 for adults; $3 for children 6-12; free for 5 and under. Call 434-0405.)

(12/18/03) [[In-content Ad]]