The Magi followed a star to find the child Jesus, according to the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 2 says that visitors called Magi came from the east after seeing Jesus’ star. They traveled first to Jerusalem, where they asked about the newborn “king of the Jews.” Herod then directed them toward Bethlehem after consulting religious leaders about the expected birthplace.
The star is commonly called the Star of Bethlehem. Matthew’s account says that it went ahead of the Magi and appeared to stop over the place where the child was. The text does not identify the star as a comet, planet, or a particular astronomical event.
Many later theories have proposed conjunctions of planets, comets, or other celestial phenomena, but none is confirmed by the Gospel text. Matthew names the visitors as Magi, not kings, and does not state how many Magi there were; the traditional number three comes from the three listed gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.