The Evening Star (December 11, 1945)
Editorial: Christmas star
Robert R. Coles of the Hayden Planetarium in New York discusses the Christmas star in Sky and Telescope Magazine for December; and the public at large, not merely professional astronomers, may be interested in what he has to say. The celestial phenomenon mentioned repeatedly in the second chapter of the Gospel of Saint Mark always has been one of the most attractive features of the story of the birth of Christ. Strangely perhaps, its fascination increases with the passing of time. The more that is known about it, the more there seems yet to be explored.
A practical “reconstruction” of the picture of the heavens as it was on that miraculous night in the reign of Herod the Great, Mr. Coles declares, would be feasible if it were not for the absence of one essential detail – namely the precise year in which the Nativity occurred. The chronology of Dionysius Exiguus, who introduced the custom of using B.C. and A.D. in reckoning dates, placed the year of the Savior’s coming to earth as 754 “after the founding of the city of Rome,” but his theory now is known to be erroneous.
On the other hand, Mr. Coles emphasizes the undoubted fact that the Magi “were more than casually acquainted with the stars.” The regular proceedings of planets “would not have seemed extraordinary to them, while they would undoubtedly have taken note of anything unusual that appeared in the heavens.” A supernova – a dim star which suddenly flares up to extreme brilliance – might have been their guide to the Babe in the manger. Other possibilities, as Mr. Coles lists them, are: Meteors or “shooting stars,” comets and planetary conjunctions. Regarding the last of these, Kepler’s discovery of the close proximity of Jupiter and Saturn in December 1603, and of Mars’ intrusion into their neighborhood in the autumn of 1604, conceivably may furnish a clue.
Mr. Coles finds it significant that Kepler estimated that his three planets had been in “a similar grouping” in 7 or 6 B.C. But he also remembers that there was a great comet visible in 4 B.C. Maybe the exact identity of the Christmas star never will be decided beyond question. But the mystery adds to, rather than detracts from, the beauty of the Nativity narrative. Some forms of knowledge are beyond the reach of science, and it is good that they are.