On this page you may find some information about the upcoming Jupiter-Saturn conjunction on the 21st of December, 2020, including some visuals and videos created with Stellarium showing the view of the sky; these include views over the past few days up to (and beyond) the 21st of December, and of historical occurrences of the same phenomenon.
This event has caught the attention of many, and has been mentioned a lot in the context of the Star of Bethlehem. This view appears to find its origins in a hypothesis by German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630). In 1604, Kepler observed a new star in the sky; nowadays we know that this was a Type 1a supernova (and is often often referred to as Kepler’s supernova). Since in the previous year there had been a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, Kepler drew a link between the two events. Having calculated that there had been a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in 7 B.C., he wondered whether – just like the events of 1603 and 1604, when a “new star” followed a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction – the same might have occurred in 7 / 6 B.C. Eventually, the idea was misinterpreted, in that Kepler was said to have considered the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction itself to be the Star of Bethlehem. (It may have been the German astronomer Ideler who first committed this mistake.)
Assuming that the story of the star is true, and not simply an embellishment of the tale (which could also very well be the case), we cannot say with any certainty that the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ was a conjunction of these two planets. Several other explanations have been put forth, such as a conjunction of Jupiter with Venus (and even the star Regulus), the appearance of Comet Halley in 12 B.C., the appearance some other comet, or perhaps even a nova. It could also have been a sequence of events that were interpreted as a whole.