A planetary scientist with NASA has found that the Star of Bethlehem that led the Magi to the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth could have been a comet recorded by Chinese astronomers in 5 BCE that may have passed dangerously close to the Earth, allowing it to appear stationary in the heavens above Bethlehem at the time corresponding to the birth of the historical Jesus of Nazareth. This refutes the long-standing notion that an astronomical phenomenon couldn’t have remained stationary in the sky long enough to have been the source of the Christmas Star, as described in the Gospel of Luke and Matthew.

For decades, one possible candidate for the Star of Bethlehem has been a comet chronicled in a passage in a second-century Chinese document known as the Han Shu, or History of the Former Han Dynasty, that appeared in the sky in the “2nd year [of the Chien-p’ing reign of Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty], 2nd month,” corresponding to the Chinese lunar month that spans 5 BCE March 9 to April 6, 5 BCE, “which falls neatly within the estimated window for Jesus’ birth,” according to Matney’s paper. The passage describes the comet as “a broom star [hui hsing, a fitting description for the tail of a comet]” that “emerged in Ch’ien Niu,” a six-star Chinese constellation that encompasses the stars α and β Capricorni, and lingered in the constellation “for over 70 days.”

Although the start of our calendrical system was based on the presumed year of Jesus’ birth when the concept of Anno Domini was introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in 525 CE, modern scholars believe that the historical Jesus was born about a half-decade earlier, sometime during 6 to 5 BCE. It is also generally thought, based on the Biblical description of shepherds tending to their flocks, that this event took place sometime in the spring, rather than on December 25, the day Romans celebrated the winter solstice, placing the comet recorded in the Han Shu not only in the same year, but also the same season that the historical Jesus’ is estimated to have been born.

Due to the limited information provided in the Han Shu a definitive orbital path for this comet can’t be charted: its location within Ch’ien Niu narrows “the location only within 5–10°” of the sky, “and only the month of the initial observation is known, not the precise day.” Instead, Matney used the available information to calculate a range of possible orbits for a comet with the described characteristics, and found one that not only matched the time period in question, but also came within a few hundred thousand kilometers of the Earth—well within the Moon’s orbit.

This close pass would be necessary for such a phenomenon to first rise in the sky, and then appear hover over one location for a period as the rotation of the Earth matched the speed of the passing comet, meaning an observer on the ground and the comet itself would briefly be moving in the same speed and direction.

 “A comet could stay in one place if it was basically on a ‘collision course’ with Earth,” Matney explained. “That’s exactly what you would expect of an object that’s going to pass very, very close to the Earth.”

While this comet appears to fit the description of the Biblical Star of Bethlehem, Matney concludes that “it is impossible to assert with certainty that this comet was definitely the Star the Magi saw,” but points out that his calculations mean that it is possible for an astrological phenomenon to behave “in the manner described” by the Gospel of Matthew.

‘Tis the season that we celebrate the birth of the individual known as Jesus of Nazareth, the subject of 2021’s, Jesus: A New Vision, where Whitley applies his unique insight into the life of the individual known today as Jesus of Nazareth. From all of us at Unknown Country, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!