Christmas Star

 

The Bible tells of how Jesus’ birth was announced through a new star in the heavens.  The Book of Mormon tells of a night without darkness as well as a new star.  Could these two phenomena be the same event?  Let us look at how a comet could have caused both. Another more traditional possibility is here.

First of all this is all pure speculation as we have very little information on what actually happened.  Here are the scriptures and what they say.

“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. …and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. ”  Mathew 2:2,9-10

“Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born.  And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.”  Helaman 14:4-5

“Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.”  3 Nephi 1:13

If you carefully read these accounts, you see that the star was found in the western sky (so it could lead wise men from the east).  But years after His birth, the wise men followed the star from Herod’s palace to Bethlehem.  Herod had many palaces and we don’t know which palace the wise men visited.  Herod could have been at his palace in Jerusalem (north of Bethlehem), at Jericho (east of Bethlehem), or at Herodium (south of Bethlehem), or Caesarea (west of Bethlehem).  It was unlikely to be Jerusalem as it seems like it was several days' journey from Bethlehem (although it does mention Jerusalem knowing about the visit).  All celestial objects “fall” to the west, so Jericho is a good option and is closer to the eastern countries anyway.

Obviously this is very little to go off of. But what if the new star the wise men saw was actually a comet that led them to Jerusalem?  What if this same comet lit up the night sky in the New World?

In order for the comet to brighten the night so that it is not “darkened,” the Earth would have had to pass through the tail of the comet.  This would have been both very bright, and would have hidden the main body of the comet during the night.  Let us look at what could have happened.

The comet approaches.  This view looks down at the Earth at the north pole.  The Earth is rotating counter-clockwise and orbiting the sun also counter-clockwise–in this case the Earth is moving up.  Jerusalem, at the bottom, is just beginning nighttime and Zarahemla, at the top, is just welcoming a new morning.

On the evening of the day before Christ’s birth, the comet was hurtling towards the sun on a near collision path with Earth.  The comet would pass just ahead of Earth’s own orbit and the Earth would be engulfed in the comet’s tail.  The Earth would leave the comet’s tail as the comet continues on its path towards the sun.  What would it have looked like for the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Zarahemla?  Why did it look different for the different peoples?

A comet heading toward the Earth starting away from the sun would have nearly no tail in the night sky.  At midnight the comet would be directly overhead and would look like a fuzzy star that got bigger every night.  At dusk, the comet would have risen in the east and as it got closer to the Earth would have a short tail, almost like wings spreading away from the horizon.

The morning before Christ’s birth.  The Earth is just entering the comet’s tail as Jerusalem (on the top) begins the new day before His birth.  Zarahemla begins its night, as the eastern horizon begins to glow.

In the countries to the east of Jerusalem, the “new star” would point towards Jerusalem every evening.  On the night before His birth, the comet would show itself only late into the night and, on the morning of His birth, it would disappear into the rising sun and may not have been very noticeable.  As the Earth passed through the tail, nothing would be visible in Jerusalem because the bright sun and blue sky would prevent anything from being seen.  This would be the day of His birth.  And that night when the shepherds came, the new star would have switched to the other side of the sun and would not have been visible until just before sunrise the next morning.

The day before Christmas.  In Jerusalem the comet is overhead, but is unseen because the sun is also overhead.  In Zarahemla, all of the horizons are brighter than directly overhead, but the night is dramatically brighter than it has ever been. 

In Zarahemla, however, the start would be in the West in the evening looking much like it did in Jerusalem.  On the night that would be the day of His birth in Jerusalem, the Earth would block any direct view of the comet, but the whole night sky would light up as the Earth moved through its tail.  All night the horizons would be the brightest, with probably a dark blue sunless sky overhead.  The sky would start to darken as the Earth made its way out of the tail, just in time to welcome the rising of the sun.  This day, which was now night in Jerusalem, would herald the birth of the Savior.

Christmas.  It is night time in Jerusalem and although the western horizon may be brighter than normal, the star would probably not be seen this night (only just at dusk after the sun sets).

Is this reasonable?  The Earth in orbit is moving at about 67,000 mph and comets have been observed with tail thicknesses greater than 860,000 miles across.  This would take about 13 hours to cross, which is more than enough time to light up the Zarahemla sky all night.  Likely the comet in question was not the biggest observed, but its tail could have easily lasted 8 hours or so. Most other natural phenomena that could brighten the night sky (supernovae, solar flares) would not last more than a couple of hours. So a comet tail is a good candidate for this miracle.

God likes to use nature to perform His miracles.  Perhaps this time, He used a comet to show the subtle signs in Jerusalem and the not-so-subtle signs in Zarahemla.

Time	What was viewed.
	Jerusalem	Zarahemla
Days before	a new fuzzy star, rising from the east in the evening and setting in the west in the morning	same
24 hours before	In the evening the new star would be gone with a faint fuzzy brightness in the east that would get brighter as the night wore on.	Early that morning, there would be perhaps a spectacular comet directly overhead with a long tail to the west
12 hours before	In the morning, the eastern sky would be unusually bright. The Sun would rise before the comet would be visible.	In the evening the eastern sky would be bright and the brightness would extend further north and south.
6 hours before	Daytime	The sky would be blue at the horizon and dark blue overhead.  There would be fuzzy vertical streaks rising from every horizon.
Christ is Born	It is evening and the new star will not be seen this night.  The western horizon would be unusually bright, fading as the night progressed.	The brightness has moved to western horizon as the sun rises again.
The nights after	The comet would look like a fuzzy star that appears briefly in the western evening sky.	Same