dipper@utastro.UUCP (12/23/84)
Was there really a star that led the wisemen to Bethlehem? We'll talk about it -- right after this. December 23: The Christmas Star In the Bible, St. Matthew described a star that led the three wisemen to Bethlehem. But was the star of Bethlehem really a star? Some Biblical scholars think that the word "star" may have been used as a symbol of a religious experience. Likewise, some astronomers believe that the star couldn't have been an astronomical object. Still, other astronomers have tried for centuries to discover the true identity of the Christmas star. One of the most famous astronomers of all time, Johannes Kepler, made an extensive study of the Christmas star in the 17th century. He concluded that it was actually three planets which drew near one another in the constellation Pisces in the year 7 B.C. Other astronomers have different theories -- like this one. The Christmas star may have been the planet Uranus, which wasn't actually discovered until centuries later. The idea is that someone may have spotted Uranus at a rare time when it was visible to the naked eye. Or the Christmas star may have been a comet -- even Halley's Comet, which appeared around the time the star should have been visible. Comets in those days were called "hairy stars." Or the star of Bethlehem may really have been a star -- a nova observed and put on record by Chinese astronomers. A nova is a star that flares up suddenly in brightness. Nobody knows what the Christmas star was -- or whether it was real. But we do know that its message of peace and good will continues to shine through the centuries. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin