Star of Bethlehem
Experts believe the star of Bethlehem which supposedly guided the magi to baby Jesus was really a conjunction of two planets.
A conjunction happens when two celestial objects appear to pass very near to each other from our perspective on Earth. Often, these conjunctions look like one large object rather than separate ones.
“A supernova in 1006, the brightest ever, was as bright as the sun,” he says. “It was visible to the naked eye for more than two years.”
According to Chinese records, there were supernova – or “guest stars” as the Chinese described them – that appeared in the sky right around the time when Jesus may have been born, in 4 and 5 BCE.