Will the Star of Bethlehem Return?
Astronomers speculate that a rare, cyclical 'temporary' star may soon appear in the sky, potentially repeating an event unseen for centuries.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The reappearance of the variable star poetically known as the Star of Bethlehem is among the possibilities of the present year; for, unless astronomical calculations are in fault, this long looked-for star must flash forth from the sky depths before the year has completed its course. In 1572, the Dutch astronomer Tycho Brahe discovered a new star in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was of the first magnitude, increased in brilliancy until it outshone Venus, and was visible in daylight. After sixteen months, it disappeared. Astronomers now believe this star is a variable with a period of roughly 300 years. If the theory holds true, we may witness a repetition of this phenomenon in the immediate future. Some observers with poetic fancies connect this event to the Star of the East, theorizing that the star recorded in 945, 1254, and 1572 is the same celestial body that marked the nativity.
“It is nearly certain that they all existed in the skies as very small stars before they blazed forth, and that, though apparently blotted out, they still exist there, ready to blaze forth again.”
While this 1881 article reflects the popular 19th-century fascination with linking astronomical events to biblical narratives, it also shows the era's genuine curiosity about stellar evolution. Today, amateur astronomers in Washington still track the same constellations, though we now understand these 'new' stars as supernovae, the violent and beautiful deaths of ancient suns.
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