The celestial phenomenon that led the Magi to Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Christ has been explained as the conjunction of two planets, the massing of three planets in a single constellation, a nova or supernova, and a comet. There is nothing, however, in the Gospel story to suggest that the phenomenon was particularly bright or unusual or had any significance to others besides the Magi. There is a simple explanation that avoids these difficulties, fits all the recorded facts and does not violate any natural law. It is that the Magi were Babylonian astronomers who, in their journey first to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem, were keeping a planet under observation, probably Jupiter, which reached a stationary point as they arrived at Bethlehem, convincing them that the child they found there was indeed the Messiah they were seeking. There is abundant evidence in the Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions that the retrogradations and stationary points of planets were a matter of keen interest around the time of the birth of Christ to the astronomers of that region. Detailed calculations enable Christ's birth to be dated to the second half of September in 5 BC.
