There is a story told about two men sitting together on an airplane. As some are wont to do, when strapped together 30,000 feet above where they ought to be, they begin to get acquainted. One man was an astronomer, the other a theologian. After a while, each began to share his understanding of the other’s discipline. The astronomer said, “I believe that all religion can be summed up in the phrase, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” The theologian, somewhat miffed at this simplistic understanding of his scholarly discipline, said, “And all astronomy can be summed up with the phrase, “Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star How I wonder what you are.” Today we look not at astronomy, but at some astronomers who wondered about a star.

The truth is that the astronomer and the theol…