Star of Bethlehem

====Planetary conjunction====
In 1614, German astronomer [[Johannes Kepler]] determined that a series of three conjunctions of the planets [[Jupiter]] and [[Saturn]] occurred in the year 7 BC.<ref name="Mosley1"/> He argued (incorrectly) that a [[Conjunction (astronomy and astrology)|planetary conjunction]] could create a [[nova]], which he linked to the Star of Bethlehem.<ref name="Mosley1"/> Modern calculations show that there was a gap of nearly a degree (approximately twice a diameter of the moon) between the planets, so these conjunctions were not visually impressive.<ref name="MarkKidger">{{cite web | last = Mark | first = Kidger | title = Chinese and Babylonian Observations | url=http://www.astrosurf.com/comets/Star_of_Bethlehem/English/Chinese.htm | access-date = 2008-06-05 }}</ref> An ancient almanac has been found in [[Babylon]] which covers the events of this period, but does not indicate that the conjunctions were of any special interest.<ref name="MarkKidger"/> In the 20th century, Professor [[Karlis Kaufmanis]], an astronomer, argued that this was an astronomical event where Jupiter and Saturn were in a triple conjunction in the constellation [[Pisces (constellation)|Pisces]].<ref>Minnesota Astronomy Review Volume 18 – Fall 2003/2004 {{cite web|url=http://www.astro.umn.edu/news/vol18.pdf |title= The Star of Bethlehem by Karlis Kaufmanis|date= 30 October 2023}}</ref><ref>Audio Version of Star of Bethlehem by Karlis Kaufmanis {{cite web |url=http://sites.google.com/site/astrologicalstarofbethlehem/ |title=The Star of Bethlehem by Karlis Kaufmanis |access-date=2011-01-03 |archive-date=2018-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801055112/https://sites.google.com/site/astrologicalstarofbethlehem/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Archaeologist and [[Assyriology|Assyriologist]] [[Simo Parpola]] has also suggested this explanation.<ref name="Parpola">Simo Parpola, "The Magi and the Star," ''Bible Review,'' December 2001, pp. 16–23, 52, 54.</ref>

In 3–2 BC, there was a series of seven conjunctions, including three between Jupiter and [[Regulus]] and a strikingly close conjunction between Jupiter and [[Venus]] near Regulus on June 17, 2 BC. "The fusion of two planets would have been a rare and awe-inspiring event", according to Roger Sinnott.<ref>{{cite magazine | last = Sinnott | first =  Roger | title =  Thoughts on the Star of Bethlehem | magazine = Sky and Telescope | date =  December 1968 | pages = 384–86 }}</ref> Another Venus–Jupiter conjunction occurred earlier in August, 3 BC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/06/is_this_what_the_star_of_bethl.html| title=Is this what the Star of Bethlehem looked like? Venus, Jupiter put on a show | first =Greg | last = Garrison | date=7 March 2019 | access-date=3 February 2020 | publisher=Alabama Media Group}}</ref> While these events occurred after the generally accepted date of 4 BC for the [[Herod the Great#Death|death of Herod]], they did occur during the reign of [[Augustus|Caesar Augustus]] (who [[Luke 2|is referenced in]] the [[Gospel of Luke]]), and early Christian historians [[Eusebius]] and [[Clement of Alexandria]] calculated the birth of Jesus to 3-2 BC.<ref>{{cite book | author = Eusebius | title = [[Church History (Eusebius)]] | chapter = Book I, Chapter 5. The Time of his Appearance among Men | chapter-url = https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250101.htm | quote = 2. It was in the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus and the twenty-eighth after the subjugation of Egypt and the death of Antony and Cleopatra, with whom the dynasty of the Ptolemies in Egypt came to an end, that our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea […] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author = [[Clement of Alexandria]] | title = [[Stromata]] | chapter = Book 1, Chapter XXI: The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks | chapter-url = http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-stromata-book1.html | quote = And our Lord was born in the twenty-eighth year [after the [[Battle of Actium]]], when first the census was ordered to be taken in the reign of Augustus. }}</ref> Since the conjunction would have been seen in the west at sunset it could not have led the magi south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kidger |first=Mark |title=Astronomical Enigmas: Life on Mars, the Star of Bethlehem, and Other Milky Way Mysteries |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |location =Baltimore |date=2005 |page=63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKYJaBd-znAC |isbn=0-8018-8026-2}}</ref>