By Dennis Overbye In a stunning scientific and technological feat, a group of astronomers said Thursday that it had managed to take the first close-up picture of a star in another galaxy.

It must have been a most striking sight, and it set Kepler to thinking about the Star of Bethlehem. He calculated back to see when this close grouping of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn had taken place ...

This week, three bright planets are making that case to be this year's “Star of Bethlehem” or "Christmas Star," with Jupiter, ...