The bright, shimmering Christmas lights have slowly faded away in my town. My favourite part of this festival is an unsolved mystery at its very heart.

Years ago, as young boys in Catholic school, my friends and I would frequent the living quarters of Brother Gomes.

Undoubtedly a man of the cloth, he was also a scientist in his own right. Even as an octogenarian, he kept daily records of rainfall and temperature, studied seismographic activity and possessed an envious collection of magnets.

Cooped up in his austere little bedroom-cum-office, though, what we most enjoyed hearing him talk about were the stars. On rare occasions, he would bring out his squeaky old telescope and teach us how to use it.

He was the first to teach us all about constellations, galaxies, supernovas, nebulas, black holes, and all the crazy stuff going on in the furthest reaches of space.

It was also Brother Gomes who introduced me to the great Christmas mystery behind the star that sits atop every self-respecting Christmas tree.

The Biblical story is pretty light on the details, but to cut a long story short, the star of Bethlehem led the three Magi to Jerusalem to welcome the baby Jesus.

Though I did not share Brother Gomes’ religious sympathies, we found common ground in our fascination for the scientific effort that has gone into coming up with a plausible explanation for this miraculous cosmic phenomenon.

While some believe it never happened, others suggest it may have been a supernova or a comet. Even planetariums have joined in on this strange annual quest, breaking down the most popular theories and busting common misconceptions through special shows during the holidays.

I don’t know if we’ll ever crack it, but I’ll always be grateful to Brother Gomes for opening up the night sky for me. He died six Christmases ago and is dearly missed.

If this inspires you in some small way to go stargazing, you should give the Star Walk app a try. It uses augmented reality to add visualisations over stars when you move your phone around—even if you’ve got four impenetrable walls around you. It also gives you a calendar for all the meteor showers happening near you, lets you know the temperature on Venus (spoiler: It’s really hot) and answers an all-important question: Is that a planet or a star?

I hope Christmas was good to you and 2024 brings you luck. I’ve never been one for New Year resolutions, but let me know which star you wished on this year!

Arpit

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👀 Christmas, a priest, and a 2000-year-old…