Before we touch on the real stars, let's spend a minute looking at a hypothetical one. I'm referring to the Star of Bethlehem from the Bible, which plays a small but crucial role in the story of the birth of Jesus. This is the "star in the east" the Magi saw that ultimately guided them to Bethlehem and the baby Jesus. While the star may be purely allegorical or symbolic, some believe it was an actual astronomical phenomenon. Candidates include a bright nova or supernova, a comet, meteor and a close alignment of planets.

We can eliminate the first explanation because none were recorded by Chinese astronomers at the time of Jesus's birth around 6 B.C. to 4 B.C. Chinese astrologers kept careful records of out-of-the-ordinary sky phenomena and would have noticed any new, bright star in the ea

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