Answer:
If you look to scripture as a reference, the Star of Bethlehem is likely not the
North Star (Polaris.) It mentions the star "rising in the East [sic]". Based on the
location of the viewers at the time Polaris would have been very low in the
Northern Sky, and would easily have been recognized for what it was by well
educated astronomers and astrologers, not to mention that it technically
doesn't "rise", excepting seasonal changes in position. Others have postulated
comets, supernova, and conjunctions. Others just take it as written.
========================================
I don't have a new testament handy, but if memory serves, I think the quote
is something like "We have seen his star in the East." If so, then that's already
a problem, because the kings were coming from the East, and traveling westward
toward their destination. Possibly a better translation might have been "We in the
East have seen his star." Also in another well-known carol: "Westward leading,
still proceeding, guide us ... " etc. If you can accept that, then some great
astronomical possibilities open up.
Comets and supernovas are not plausible. Chinese astronomers (sky watchers)
were very active at the time, we have their records, and they mention nothing
like that in the sky at the time. But planetary groupings are an intriguing
subject to contemplate.
We know that it didn't take place in December. Only one of many reasons is the
fact that that shepherds don't "watch their flocks by night" in December in that
part of the Middle East. Also, the calendar has been "adjusted" so many times
in so many ways since then, that we also know it didn't happen in the year you
get if you count back from now to the year zero. It would have been a few
years earlier than that.
The astrologers of that time, in the lands that are now the Arab/Muslim countries,
associated the constellation of Pisces with the "Hebrews". I don't know why,
or what it was about fish that reminded them of the Hebrews and the place
where the Hebrews lived, but they did.
A very rare grouping of planets occurred in the Spring of 6 BC, when Mars, Jupiter,
and Saturn all got together for several weeks ... in Pisces ... with Pisces low in
the west as the sun set and the sky became dark enough to see them. The
kings were certainly up on their astrology, as all cultured and educated people
were at the time. Their attention would certainly have been captured by the
unusual behavior of a close group of multiple planets, located in the sign of the
Hebrews, which at the time hung in the sky over the land of the Hebrews,
to the west of them.
And that's my candidate for the star of Bethlehem.