Was Jupiter the Star of Bethlehem?

What was the star of Bethlehem? Maybe it was Jupiter.

Celestial conjunctions were very important to ancient astrologers. Three significant conjunctions occurred around the time Christ was born: two in 6 BC and one in 2 BC. The most interesting is one that occurred on April 17 in 6 BC. Astronomer Michael Molnar points out that on that date, Jupiter, Saturn, the moon, and the sun aligned in the constellation Aries.

The language of the gospel fits well with the way that ancient astrologers would have described this event, with Jupiter “rising in the east” by appearing as a…