The Star of Bethlehem

Shortly after sunset tonight (21 December) if the sky is clear enough, it will be possible to view the conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The fusion of two planets is described as a ‘rare and awe-inspiring event’ and a planetary conjunction – not seen since 1226 CE – has been suggested as a strong contender for the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ that guided the Magi to the infant Christ.

The ‘Star of Bethlehem’ is described in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. According to the Gospel, King Herod dispatches the Magi to Bethlehem to find the infant and they are aided in their journey by a star. Matthew 2:9, in the King James Version of the Bible, reads:

‘When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was’

The ‘Star of Bethlehem’ has often been understood as a miraculous sign and some theologians have claimed that the star fulfilled the ‘Star and Sceptre Prophecy’ mentioned in the Old Testament, Book of Numbers 24:17:

‘I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the Children of Sheth’

While the idea of a ‘miraculous star’ may be appealing, Jesuit brother, Guy Consolmangno, a planetary scientist and director of the Vatican Observatory, believes that the unusually bright light in the sky above the Holy Land more than 2000 years ago may have been an astronomical event.

Various candidates have been proposed including the star as a comet (both Halley’s Comet which was visible in 12 BCE or a later hypothetical comet); a supernova or hypernova in the nearby Andromeda Galaxy; a heliacal rising; or a double occultation of Jupiter by the moon in 6 BCE. However, the most favoured astronomical theory concerns planetary conjunction – an event where two astronomical objects have the same ecliptic longitude as observed from the Earth.

Planetary conjunctions were linked with the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ by the German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, in 1614 when he noted three conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn which he dated to the year 7 BCE. While an ancient almanac from Babylon covers this period, it does not indicate that these phenomena were of particular interest.

In 3-2 BCE, there was a series of seven conjunctions, including three between Jupiter and Regulus (a quadruple star system), and a strikingly close conjunction between Jupiter and Venus near Regulus in 2 BCE which is known as a ‘Great Conjunction’.

The conjunctions of Jupiter have been studied at length by American law professor, Frederick Larson, and he has provided compelling links between the Great Conjunction in 2 BCE and the biblical account in the Gospel of Matthew. Larson located nine qualities of the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ in the Gospel including: its signification of birth and kingship; its relationship to the Jewish nation; its rising in the East; its appearance at an exact time and endurance over time; King Herod not being aware of it; and its presence before the Magi as they travelled south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Using the Starry Night astronomy software and information from the astronomer Craig Chester and archaeologist Ernest Martin, Larson provides an interesting timeline of events that connect planetary action with Jesus conception and birth (see: https://bethlehemstar.com/).

The ‘Star of Bethlehem’ is often depicted in art of the Nativity and pictures of the Adoration of the Magi and Adoration of the Shepherds. In the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, it is present in works by Albrecht Altdorper, Cavaliere d’Arpino, Albrecht Dürer, Wenceslaus Hollar, Mario Cotaro, Peter Paul Rubens, Sébastien Bourdon, and François Boucher among others.

Tonight’s bright star will be visible in the western sky for approximately an hour after sunset. Dr Brad Tucker from Australian National University tells us it is best located by finding the thin crescent moon and noting the two bright objects next to it.

Stars are often seen as a symbol of divine guidance, of enlightenment or light in the darkness. As we emerge from a bleak and difficult year, it is timely for a rare astronomical event to remind us that there is light on the horizon.