Now, what could this star have been? Every plausible explanation has been advanced, all of them interesting but none so compelling as to end the debate. Let's look briefly at some of the more popular options.

A comet has long been a popular candidate. But there are none recorded around the time of Jesus' birth. Halley's Comet would be the closest, appearing in 12 B.C., but that is years before Christmas. And comets were considered to be ominous in the ancient world, never the herald of good news.

Meteors and fireballs are sometimes suggested. But Herod and his court would certainly have noticed such a brilliant phenomenon.

A natural star could account for the first appearance, but not the second. If a star got so close to our planet as to point out a particular house in the town of Bethlehem, it would burn us all up. Imagine our sun getting so close to us.

Some suggest a combination of planets. On September 11 in 3 B.C., Jupiter (the royal planet) came into conjunction with Regulus (the royal star) in Leo (the constellation of kings). The sun was in the constellation of Virgo (symbolic of the virgin), together with the new moon (symbolic of a new birth). And September 11 was the beginning of the Jewish New Year as well. Interesting, but not even a planet could single out an individual house with precision.