A Christmas Star?

We often associate certain stars and constellations with the seasons or life events that have special meaning to us. It's inevitable then that some skywatchers will see the upcoming Great Conjunction as a modern version of the Christmas Star. More power to them. The Bible mentions that a bright star in the east heralded the birth of Christ. Assuming the description is more than symbolic, several explanations have been proposed for its origin, including a nova or supernova, comet, or a bright conjunction.
Based on available evidence the most likely event might be the strikingly close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. On August 12th of the year 3 BC, the two brightest planets met at dawn in the eastern sky separated by 9′ as seen from Bethlehem. They were even closer together at dusk in the western sky on June 17 in 2 BC — just 1.4′ apart center to center — and would have appeared as a single brilliant "star." Scholars date Christ's birth as between 4 and 6 BC, though the date isn't definitive, leaving either conjunction as tasty food for thought.

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