As the well-known story in the Gospel of Matthew goes, the Star of Bethlehem guided three Magi, or wise men, to Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. And after consulting with King Herod of Judea, the men found newborn baby Jesus in the little town of Bethlehem. Whether such an event really happened in history is difficult to prove, but if it did, what was the Star of Bethlehem?
This is a question scholars have long pondered, not just from a religious or historical perspective, but from a scientific one, too. Plenty of theories have been proposed, from an astronomical event to an astrological horoscope, but thanks to modern astronomy, scientists are getting closer to an answer.
"If what is in the New Testament is a historical account of something, then that historical account requires an explanation," David Weintraub, a professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, told our sister publication All About Space in an email. "As an astronomer, you want an astronomical explanation."
The skies have always been a bridge between the known and the unknown. In ancient times, the skies were the realm of the gods, who dictated the fates of men down below. Across different faiths, religious rituals and practices are a way to establish a sort of dialogue with powers way beyond our control. It is how we can grab their attention. And if the skies are the realm of the gods, then celestial phenomena must be some kind of message, the way the gods talk to us down here. Across millennia, this has been the belief of countless religions across the globe. Even now, when this sort of supernatural connection with the skies is fading due to scientific knowledge, countless people believe in astrology, another way of extracting meaning from celestial phenomena that supposedly impact our lives.
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