Mark Thompson, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and Astronomy Presenter on BBC's The One Show, has conducted research that he says can explain the story, told in the Gospel of Matthew, about the star leading the travellers to Bethlehem.
Using historical records and computer simulations that allow the position of the stars and planets to be charted back to around the time when Jesus is believed to have been born, Mr Thompson claims there was an unusual astronomical event.
He said that between September 3BC and May 2BC there were three "conjunctions" where the planet Jupiter and a star called Regulus passed close to each other in the night sky.
