The Star of Bethlehem led the three wise men to Jesus' birth, according to the New Testament. But what was the Star of Bethlehem? There are several theories.

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.

Even if the author of Matthew felt the Star of Bethlehem was accurate history and not pious fiction, we'll likely never know the particular event they had in mind. Paper: Chester, Craig.

The Star of Bethlehem wasn't a comet or a supernova. We know that Halley's Comet was visible in the sky in 11 B.C. However, as the Magi trekked toward Jerusalem and on to Bethlehem, ...

The theory that the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn may be the Star of Bethlehem is not new. It was proposed in the early 17th century by Johannes Kepler , a German astronomer and mathematician.

However, astronomers have investigated the star of Bethlehem as the birth of a star — a nova — that shines very bright and then fades over a few months. Same problem as a comet — not that rare.

A view of the 'Star of Bethlehem' over Tel Aviv, June 2015 (Channel 2 screen capture) ...

The biblical account. The story of the Wise Men, also called Magi, following the Star of Bethlehem is found only once in the Bible, in Matthew 2:1–12.

The nova of 1604 was observed by Kepler, one of the greatest of all astronomers, and he was the first to suggest that the Star of Bethlehem might have been such an object.