From "The Star of
WAS THE STAR in fact just that - a star? This seems so obvious, though so far we have looked only at planets alone or in conjunction with others; at comets in their lengthy orbits around the Sun; and at meteors, either singly as fireballs or in showers. In 1956, Sir Arthur C. Clarke wrote a short story called 'The Star." In it he assumes the persona of a Jesuit astronomer working as a scientist aboard an exploratory spaceship of the future. The ship's mission is to enter and explore the Phoenix Nebula, the remnant of an old massive star that has died, torn apart by a supernova explosion. In his cabin he tries to reconcile his conscience with his faith, wrestling uncomfortably with the implications of his discoveries.
"The Star" was written in 1954 for a short-story competition run by the British newspaper The Observer. Much to Clarke's amusement and perplexity, the story was not worthy of even one of the many consolation prizes in the forms of certificates of merit. But when it was later published in the November 1955 edition of the magazine Infinity Science Fiction, the story was voted the best science fiction story published that year.
For those unfamiliar with the story, I can thoroughly
recommend it. It revolves around a Jesuit astronomer, the central character in
the story, who finds that the nebula that he is investigating is the remains of
the explosion that was, thousands of years earlier, observed as the Star of
Bethlehem. This conclusion forces him into a crisis of
faith because of the contradictions involved in the discovery. The contradiction is revealed in the unexpected sting at the end of this classic work, which I will not reveal for the sake of those interested in reading the story.
'The
Star" was based on another popular article, also by Arthur C. Clarke,
called 'The Star of the Magi" and published in