Have I told you the story of the two men who were sitting together on an airplane? As some are wont to do, when strapped together thirty thousand 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 I believe that 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.

Last Su…