Two thousand years ago, according to the Bible, a star rose low in the east and stopped high above Bethlehem. Was it a miracle, a sign from God to herald the birth of Christ? Was there a star at all, or was it simply added to the Bible to fulfil the Old Testament prophecy concerning the birth of a Messiah? Or was the Star of Bethlehem an actual astronomical event? For hundreds of years, astronomers as prominent as Johannes Kepler have sought an answer to this last baffling question. In this text, Mark Kidger brings all the tools of modern science, years of historical research, and a spirit of inquiry to bear on the mystery. He sifts through a variety of ideas, evidence, and information - including Babylonian sky charts, mediaeval paintings, data from space probes, and even calculations about the speed of a camel - to present an account of what it may have been that illuminated the night skies two millennia ago.