... In the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying: "Where is he that is born  King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him."
... When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. - The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 2

   The gospel story about the Bethlehem star still excites mankind, even after almost 2000 years. There are different versions that try to explain this phenomenon. For example, some say that these wise men saw in the sky a conjunction of planets - for example, Jupiter and Saturn. Or there is also the opinion that it was a flaring supernova star, recorded in ancient Chinese chronicles. Both these hypothesises have one very large lack: they cannot answer the question, how could this star (or planet) be said "to go before them"? Stars, as we know, do not move in the sky. The planets move, but with a speed slow enough that the eye of an observer from the Earth would perceive them as fixed rather than moving.

   In the most prevalent opinion about the Bethlehem star, this phenomenon was absolutely supernatural. According to this view, it is not necessary that science penetrate the sphere of religion. However, from the biblical point of view, the opinion that this was a supernatural star is, strictly speaking, rather disputable. According to the Bible, God created the stars "for signs" (Genesis 1:14-16). Besides, according to the Bible, all of creation, including the stars, was completed during the creation week. One might ask, then, why God should specially create a new star for the birth of Jesus Christ if it was possible to use one that was already created? As Genesis says, the stars were created for signs.

   There are only two kinds of natural sky bodies whose movement in the sky is obvious to the naked eye, a necessary condition to satisfy the gospel's statement that the star "went before them." These bodies are meteorites (so-called "falling stars") and comets. From the gospel's description it is obvious that the Bethlehem star did not fall and was not going to fall. Hence, there is only one candidate -- this "star" was a comet.

   Modern science knows of many different comets -- large and not so large, with orbital periods from several years up to several thousands years and so on. Can we can find any information on a comet described in the Gospel and called the "Bethlehem star"? Yes, we can find such information in the Bible.

   First, all existing comets can be classified in two categories:
(1) Comets with elliptical orbits. These come back to us at regular intervals.
(2) Comets with parabolic orbits. These visit us once, then are lost in space.
So what category of comet would the Bethlehem "star" belong to? If the heavenly bodies are for signs, it would be logical to assume that each sky body would conform to one certain type of earthly event. Periodic comets, then (having elliptical orbits), would mark by their approach to the Earth those kinds of events which periodically repeat. Comets with parabolic trajectory, on the other hand, would testify by their approach to the Earth of events that are absolutely unique and never repeating. The birth of Jesus Christ was just such an event! Therefore it is possible to make an unequivocal conclusion that the Bethlehem star was a comet with a parabolic trajectory.

   But there is one more question that has long interested many Christians. What attributes would have made the wise men suddenly decide that the occurrence of this comet marked the birth of Messiah, King of the Jews? Clearly, since they are named "wise men," they had some knowledge of what earthly events might correspond with which sky phenomena. But then, if astrology "brought them to Christ," so to speak, why is astrology condemned throughout the Bible?

   The answer to this question follows. Nowadays there are several different astrologic systems - European astrology, Chinese, etc. These do not correspond and frequently contradict each other. All of them are completely non-Christian and hardly any of them contained that information about the Bethlehem star which brought the wise men to the birthplace of Christ. Both these modern astrologic systems and the systems of ancient astrology condemned in the Bible were, and are, false sciences, reflecting an incorrect view of reality.

   There can only be one Truth, and it is not likely to be found in the astrologies in use today. But obviously in ancient time, alongside with false astrology there was a true astrology -- the science dealing with the conformity of sky phenomenas to certain earthly events. It is not without reason that the Bible says that the stars were created "for signs." Hence, there once existed an appropriate science about "signs." In fact, a few remnants of the ancient true astrologic science have survived until our day. A vivid example of this is the biblical meaning of the names of many zodiac constellations: Aries the Ram, Leo, Virgo, Aquarius... The Ram speaks to us about Christ the Lamb, who gave His life in expiation of the sins of mankind; Leo, about Messiah, the future King of all the Earth; Virgo, about the conception of the future King, Christ, by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin; Aquarius, about the Great Flood, destroying at one time almost the whole of mankind because of its sins.

   These biblically compatible names of some zodiac constellations date from the far distant past, long before the time of the birth of Christ. And, obviously, the wise men mentioned in the gospel belonged to a small circle of scientists which had kept alive until that time the ancient knowledge "about signs." This knowledge allowed them to correctly understand the correlation between the occurrence of the new "star" at a special place in the sky and the birth of Jesus Christ.

   Let us consider the question: why did the wise men interpret the occurrence of this particular comet as the sign of the birth of Messiah? At once comes to mind the answer that it was probably because this comet appeared in an area of the sky which was a symbol of the future King all the Earth. As was  already mentioned, there is such a site in the the sky -- the zodiac constellation Leo. But this doesn't answer the question yet. You see, this constellation occupies a rather large portion of the sky, and there is no doubt that throughout the history of mankind other comets often appeared there. However, they were not accepted by wise men as signs of the birth of the Messiah. In the Biblical account, the wise men were so sure of the meaning of this event that when they came to Jerusalem, without even bothering to explain, they at once asked: "Where is he that is born King of the Jews"?

   In the constellation Leo is a large star named Regulus, easily visible to the unaided eye. When translated, the name Regulus means "little king." (It is interesting that this name, as well as the names of many zodiac constellations, has reached us from far antiquity, long before the birth of Christ.) Hence it is reasonable to assume that the comet appeared from the same area of the sky where this star is located.

   A likely scenario is that the wise men observed the star Regulus, a symbol of the birth of a young child King, beginning to strangely increase in size. This would have occurred as the the Bethlehem comet approached rather closely to the Earth and became visible to the unaided eye. Then, obviously, it "was separated" from the star Regulus (from the point of view of the observer) and began moving slowly in the sky. At the beginning, while it was yet rather far, this moving was not appreciable by eye -- the same as, for example, the moving of planets. Yet this phenomenon in the sky was obviously enough for the wise men to decide with confidence that the birth of the young child had taken place. They were so confident that they set off on their way to Jerusalem.

   While they went up to Jerusalem, a journey requiring several weeks to a month, the comet was rushing quickly toward the Sun. As already mentioned, its orbit was parabolic. As viewed from the earth, the extremum of this parabola was somewhere beyond the Sun. As the comet moved toward the extremum, it came closer and closer to the Sun. For a time, it was on the far side. Whether directly blocked from view by the Sun or merely overshadowed by its brightness, the comet could not be seen in the night sky. This time corresponded to a few days, when the wise men were approaching and staying in Jerusalem.

   After the comet passed its extremum, it rushed away from the Sun and back toward the stars visible in the night sky. By the time the wise men left Jerusalem, the comet had already passed the extremum and rounded the Sun. It was once again visible at night. This explains the passage in the Gospel that says: "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy," because this comet for a few days had ceased to be visible in the night sky, but now had again appeared. And now it obviously passed much closer to the Earth than when it was earlier moving toward the Sun, because now its movement in the sky had become appreciable by eye to the earthly observer. The movement was so apparent that when the wise men went from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, they perceived that the comet "went before them." Bethlehem is located 7 km south from Jerusalem, 1.5 to 2 hours of slow walking. During this time, obviously, the wise men could observe its movement in the sky, from east to west.

   It is further written of this "star": "till it came and stood over where the young child was." This passage shows us, that, when the comet reached its zenith in the night sky over Bethlehem, it had already moved away from the Earth enough that its movement in the sky had ceased to be appreciable to the unaided eye. Moreover, its angular movement with respect to the Earth became less and less, until to an observer from the Earth it appeared as "by a hanging star." This cessation of movement of the "star," especially at its zenith directly above their heads, was regarded by the wise men as a divine indication that they had arrived at their destination.

   There is one more interesting question: where is the place on the sphere of the skies where the comet went when it left us? The place from whence it came seems to be the area of the already mentioned star Regulus. Do we have the information about "the point of leaving" of this comet? It is possible that the answer is yes.

   In the zodiac constellation Cancer is located a small constellation with the interesting name "Manger." This name, as well as name of the star Regulus, has come to us from the most ancient days. It is told in Gospel that as soon as Christ was born, his mother "laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." Therefore it would be rather logical to assume that the Bethlehem comet stopped and hung above Bethlehem just in this small constellation Manger. Really, when the wise men came to Bethlehem, how could they have found out in exactly which house the young child was? Apparently, the answer is as follows: they knew that the small region of the sky in which the Bethlehem star hung was referred to as "Manger" and this guided them to the idea that the young child in Bethlehem might be at this time in a manger, or else in premises where there was a manger for animals.

   So, the Bethlehem star was a comet that had a parabolic trajectory. One "branch" of this parabola connected with the star Regulus, and the other with the constellation Manger. It is known also, that during the whole way to the Sun and back, this comet was seen in the east part of the night sky. The time during which it could be observed was from several weeks to a month, or the amount of time that was required for the wise men to travel from their country to Jerusalem. It is also known that on the return from the Sun this comet passed rather closely to the Earth, so that its movement was rather easily appreciated by the unaided eye. Further, this movement was observed by the wise men during 1 - 1.5 hours, while they went at night to Bethlehem. This moving on the sky ceased to be appreciable to the eye when the comet reached its zenith above Bethlehem. The point of zenith on a sky sphere was in the constellation Manger.

   This is enough basic information that modern astronomy could define some characteristics of this comet: its speed, mass, inclination to the plane of earth's orbit, location in the Solar system of the extremum of its trajectory, and so on. In addition, we have the information that the comet came to us from the constellation Leo, and for a month (or a few months) moved to the constellation Manger, while remaining visible for almost the whole time in the eastern part of the night sky. If we take into account the precession of the axis of rotation of the Earth and other nuances, the information that the constellation Manger was then at night precisely in its zenith above Bethlehem should help astronomers calculate the year of the birth of Jesus Christ. In addition, the fact that the "star" was visible almost the whole time in the eastern part of the sky might allow astronomers to calculate the season when it occurred.