Star of Bethlehem
the celestial phenomenon described in the New Testament as accompanying the birth of Christ. Some astronomers have attempted to account for this on the hypothesis of the conjunction of two or more bright planets in about the same part of the sky at that time, but with little success. At various times since the appearance of Tycho Brahe's star in the constellation Cassiopeia in 1572, the celebrated Nova of that year, it has been suggested that this might be a variable star of long period, though there is nothing now in the vicinity of the place of this star brighter than the 12th or 13th magnitude. Astronomers, since the invention of the telescope, have kept a pretty close watch of the few faint stars in the immediate vicinity of the place indicated by Tycho Brahe's measures to see if any of them changed in brightness, but without any evidence of such change. There is no good reason for supposing any such periodicity in the star, or any other star now known.