Was the "Star" of Bethlehem a UFO?

The star of Bethlehem attracted the attention of many authors including those of the Christian Apocrypha. The Apocrypha was written to answer man's efforts to explain the most dramatic mysteries of life. These books sometimes stand in direct contradiction with Church-approved texts and were banned by church censorship from services and religious reading.

Vyacheslav Zaitsev notes the Christian Apocrypha was originally written in Latin but was later translated into Byelorussian in the 15th Century. It contains a familiar story about early Christianity called “The Tale of the Three Magi.” In it there is a reference to a star-like object that led the three wise men to the Christ child.

The text also contains a reference to certain books, which claim that Christ came down from the star of Bethlehem and assumed an earthly body. This is not the first time ancient text have connected the Lord to a heavenly vehicle. He was in the pillar of fire by night and pillar of cloud by day and it was this object that led the Jews out of captivity. This is referenced in the Holy Bible Old Testament in Exodus 13:21 “The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day and to lead them on the way, and a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.” Many theologians believe that the “Lord” as it is used here, is a reference to Jesus Christ.

This star was different than the one depicted in popular culture and in our churches. According to legend, astronomers in many Oriental countries watched the star. Once it appeared at night and “lit up the whole of the sky” like the sun does. The star hung over Mt. Vans for a whole day, and then alighted on the mountain like an eagle. “It had wings, the kind an eagle has, and many long rays, which sent it moving in a circle when it descended upon Mount Vans." Had we seen the same thing today, it would have been called an unidentified flying object (UFO).  (Reference 1)

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Saying 'where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship him?' Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. When they had heard the King, they departed, and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, 'till it came and stood over where the young child was'" -The HOLY BIBLE, (Matthew Two; Verses 1,2,7,9 respectively).