Which star guided the three kings to jesus

That could potentially explain the Star of Bethlehem. But, of course, not everyone agrees with the idea. The story of the Star of Bethlehem appears only in the Book of Matthew. The gospel tells us that a bright star appeared in the eastern sky when Jesus was born, famously seen by a group of wise men. These biblical "Magi," sometimes called kings, now adorn nativity scenes around the world.

The Bible describes how these three wise men saw the new star as a sign of the birth of the King of the Jews, so they set out for Jerusalem to worship him. For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage," Matthew tells us.

But Herod is worried by the idea. Eventually, they call on the three wise men to ask when the star appeared. And thanks to Micah's prophesy that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem, Herod sends the trio to Bethlehem to search for Jesus.

Supposedly, Herod also ultimately kills the infants of Bethlehem in an attempt to snuff out Jesus. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. For centuries, astronomers have looked to the historical record in search of evidence for what could explain this Star of Bethlehem. Scholars have been discussing potential causes since at least the 13th century. Perhaps it was a supernova, a comet, a solar flare or an alignment of planets.

Or, alternatively, maybe it never happened at all. The truth is, science will likely never know the truth. What are some science-backed explanations that could explain the Star of Bethlehem? Some things are easily ruled out. There's no way three wise men could have tracked a meteor for weeks.

So if one had happened, other cultures likely would have taken note. And even if it somehow escaped the written historical record, astronomers have observed remnants of many other ancient supernovae. And by estimating their peak brightness, researchers have even tied some remnants to events seen on Earth in the past.

In fact, the only supernova that was visible from Earth around the time of Christ's birth actually happened in the year A. In the past, some interested astronomers have also suggested the Star of Bethlehem was a comet passing near Earth.

These icy bodies from the distant solar system often shine quite brightly when they venture into the inner solar system and are heated by the Sun. They're also known for sometimes visibly lingering in the sky for weeks or months at a time. And like supernovae, we also have historical records from other cultures regarding comets.

Sure enough, in the year 5 B. Like supernovae, Chinese scholars noted many historic comets, and even recorded a number of times that meteor impacts killed people. In the s, researchers caught onto the timing coincidence of this Chinese "Broom Star," and a string of papers started popping up in scientific journals debating the idea , among other inspirations.

All the back and forth culminated in a story in The New York Times written by legendary science journalist Walter Sullivan that suggested it could have been a comet, conjunction, nova or simply myth. Clearly, no consensus opinion has emerged in the decades since, either. So, could a comet have been the Star of Bethlehem? Keep in mind that people in the ancient world typically saw comets as symbols of pending doom — an evil omen of bad things about to happen.

A triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in 7 B. At first glance, these illustrations look the same, but compare the positions of the planets with the background stars. On May 29, Jupiter passed Saturn both moving right to left for the first time. Jupiter passed Saturn again September 30 with both moving to the right west. Finally, the planets resumed eastward motion, and Jupiter passed Saturn for the third time December 5.

And, says Hughes, it would have had a very clear message for the Magi. This leads the astronomer to conclude that the star of Bethlehem was probably not a star at all, and that it was more than one single event.

According to the story, the Magi told Herod of the sign they had seen and, says Hughes, "when they left Jerusalem [for] Bethlehem, they saw something again". Hughes's best explanation for this series of events is something known as a triple conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn - with the two planets coming close together in the sky three times over a short period.

And once the planets lined up in their orbits, Earth would "overtake" the others, meaning that Jupiter and Saturn would appear to change direction in the night sky. Even more significantly, the event is believed to have been in the constellation Pisces, which represents one of the signs of the zodiac.

The second favoured explanation is a very bright comet. While certainly spectacular and ethereal in appearance, comets are essentially "big, dirty snowballs" flying through space. This tail, which points away from the Sun, is one of the things that has made the comet idea popular, explains Hughes.

The most timely record was of a bright comet appearing in the constellation of Capricorn in 5BC, which was recorded by astronomers in China. A less likely, but more famous candidate was Halley's comet, which was visible around 12BC. Meet the people trying to help. Animals Whales eat three times more than previously thought. Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Environment As the EU targets emissions cuts, this country has a coal problem.

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