IT LED the three wise men on their epic journey from Babylon to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus Christ. And it was shining in the sky above the stables when the shepherds arrived to worship the newborn child. But why was the star of Bethlehem shining so brightly 2,000 years ago? Or is the Nativity just a myth after all? A Liverpool John Moores University astronomer has been looking at the possible answers. Mike Bode, a professor of astrophysics, says the star could have been Jupiter and Venus coming close together. Using the Gospel according to St Matthew, Prof Bode painstakingly examined the arguments of astronomers and historians who have studied ancient records. He wanted to see if there was any evidence to support the Gospel's claim of a "star" guiding the Magi - or wise men - to Jesus's birth. Professor Bode explained: "Whether you believe the story or not is a matter of faith, not science, but as an astronomer it is fascinating to realise that real astronomical occurrences can fit many of the reported events around the birth of Jesus Christ. "Although they were not astronomers in the modern scientific sense, the Magi of Babylon were very knowledgeable about the sky, including the positions of the stars and the movement of planets. "They were constantly looking for divine portents and they saw something in the sky that told them an important event was going to happen in what is now modern-day Israel." Biblical scholars believe Jesus was born around June or possibly September, not December. In August 3BC, Jupiter, the planet associated with kingship, came close to Venus, associated with conception, in the constellation of Leo, which is linked to the Jewish nation. Then, in September 3BC, around the time of the Jewish New Year, Jupiter appeared to come close to the bright star Regulus, also associated with royalty, a conjunction that only takes place once every 12 years. Over the next few months, the relative motion of Earth and Jupiter round the Sun led Jupiter and Regulus to appear to come close to each other twice more - a much rarer happening. Although not unexpected, this arrangement would have alerted the Magi to important events associated with a royal birth . Around nine months later, in June 2BC, Jupiter and Venus would have appeared so close together in the sky that they would have looked like one bright object. This is thought to have been the final trigger that set the Magi off on their initial journey. Prof Bode said: "These astrological portents would have signalled to the Magi that a royal birth had taken place in Israel." Many transient phenomena have been suggested as the origin of the star. By a process of elimination, Prof Bode says it can be worked out that it was not a comet - "dirty snowballs" about the size of a mountain that produce magnificent tails as they approach the Sun. Nor was it a meteor - rocky or metallic debris that burns up as it enters the Earth's atmosphere. Prof Bode said: "Chinese and other Far Eastern court astrologers kept very detailed records of the night sky and there are no records of any bright comets at this time. "The 'star' couldn't have been a meteor either as they only last a few seconds before they burn up in the atmosphere. "And according to Matthew's Gospel, the 'star' guided the Magi to Bethlehem from Babylon, so it was something that lasted over a period of months." Professor Bode also ruled out the possibility it could have been a supernova - the sudden brightening of a dying star. He added: "Again, there is nothing in the Far Eastern record of a bright supernova appearing in the sky at this time. "In addition, such an object would have been spotted by just about everyone, but according to Matthew, King Herod and his advisers hadn't seen anything unusual and wanted to know what the Magi had seen. "That's what got the experts thinking that the object, whatever it was, must have looked normal to the uninitiated, but possessed great astrological significance to the Magi." jessicashaughnessy@dailypost.co.uk | 
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