If they performed the journey from Jerusalem
to Bethlehem at the time of the third conjunction, December 5, in the
evening, as the narration implies, the stars would be some distance east
of the meridian, and would seem to move from southeast to southwest, or
towards Bethlehem. Their standing over the house we may regard as an
additional statement that crept into the narration probably through its
repetitions.
Such is Kepler's explanation of the Star of Bethlehem. But before he had
given this to the world, indeed while he was an infant in his cradle,
Tycho Brahe had connected the phenomenon with that of one of the great
variable stars of the solar system.
The latter astronomer discovered, in 1572, what appeared to be a new
star in the constellation, Cassiopeia. It was a star of the first
magnitude when first perceived, and daily it increased in brilliancy,
till it out-shone Sirius, equaled Venus in lustre, and could be
perceived, even by the naked eye, at noonday. For nearly a month the
star shone; at first it had a white light, then a yellow, and finally it
was a bright red. Then it slowly faded, and in about sixteen months had
disappeared.
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