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Long before writing was invented, probably before the beginnings of agriculture, men gazed at the stars. In those dark nights, before the first cities were built and when the skies were clear of man-made pollution, they watched those pinpoints of light wheel around the sky.

They saw that almost all the stars stayed in the same positions, relative to each other, night after night, year after year, generation after generation. "The eternal stars," they said. "The unchanging heavens."

Early humans believed that the heavens were the abode of their gods. They saw shapes among the stars: a lion, two bears, a mighty hunter, a bull and others.

They attached legends to the constellations, tales of gods and heroes.

Five of those lights in the night sky did not remain fixed in place, though. Five lights wandered among the other, "fixed" stars. Planetos is the Greek word for "wanderers," and we call them by that ancient word today: planets.

These wandering planets were obviously more important than the stars that remained passively fixed in place, so ancient peoples named them after specific gods. We know them by their Roman names: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

But long before Rome rose to power, ages before the Athenians built their Acropolis or the Sumerians raised their ziggurat "Tower of Babel," our earliest ancestors noticed something else in the heavens, something that must have filled them with dread.

The sun was going away.

As summer faded into autumn, the days began growing shorter. The sun rose later each morning, and set earlier each evening. The difference from one day to another was not very much, but over the course of weeks it became obvious. The sun was going away!

By the time winter came to the northern hemisphere it seemed likely that the sun might disappear altogether, leaving humanity in cold and darkness.

To the first peoples who realized what was happening, this must have been terrifying. How can we live without the sun?

And then, miraculously, the sun began to return. The days began to grow longer. Not much longer, on any given day, but over the course of a week or even less, it became obvious that the sun had stopped its retreat and was returning to bring warmth and life to the land.

Time for a celebration!

Ancient societies celebrated "the turning of the sun" late in the year. By the time of the Romans, an entire week of holiday was ordained. It was called the Saturnalia, after Saturn, the Roman god of time.

When the Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Christian church co-opted the pagan Saturnalia with a holiday that celebrates the birth of Christ. Thus we have Christmas on Dec. 25, a few days after the shortest day of the year and "the turning of the Sun."

From the evidence given in the Gospels, the Christ child was most likely born in the early spring of the year, not the first week of winter. But the early Church fathers placed the feast of the Nativity on Dec. 25, and we have celebrated Christmas on that date ever since.

According to the Gospel story, the Magi found the Christ child by following a star. Ever since then, people have wondered what the Star of Bethlehem might have been.

The Magi were sky-watchers from the civilization that existed east of Israel, where modern Iraq and Iran are located. In those days, astronomy — the study of the heavens — was closely linked to astrology — the art of predicting the future based on the positions of the stars.

Thanks to modern astronomy, we know that several planets happened to be lined up apparently close to each other in the night sky at the approximate time of Christ's birth. Such an alignment would have been considered extremely significant to astrologers. Was this the "star" that brought the Magi to Bethlehem?

Or could the Star of Bethlehem have been a comet, hanging in the sky like a fiery finger night after night?

Comets were taken as omens, usually foretelling some dire event.

There is no record of a major comet appearing at that time, but record-keeping in those days was not precise, by any means.

Some suppose that the Star of Bethlehem may have been a supernova, a star that explodes with such ferocity it is bright enough to be seen even in daylight. This possibility led the science fiction author Sir Arthur C.

Clarke to write his most haunting story, "The Star."

Astronomers have located the shattered remains of several ancient supernova explosions, such as the Crab Nebula, which burst into our view in 1054 A.D. But no such stellar debris has been found that could be dated to the time of Christ's birth.

So we don't know what the Star of Bethlehem really was. But does it matter?

Christmas is a time when we celebrate a birth. Or, considering "the turning of the sun," a rebirth. It is a holiday based on hope and joy. It is a day when we wish everyone well — as we should all year long, but rarely do.

"Peace on Earth, good will to men." And remember that Christmas is linked to the stars, too.

I received an early Christmas present. Several weeks ago I was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation. In a quiet ceremony at the Cosmos Club, in Washington D.C., I received a handsome plaque that says I got the award "For fueling mankind's imagination regarding the wonders of outer space."

You know you're getting old when you receive a lifetime achievement award. But to be honored by this one, in the name of my old friend Arthur Clarke, brought immense joy to my heart.

Merry Christmas to all!

Naples resident Ben Bova is the author of more than 100 books, including "Faint Echoes, Distant Stars," a nonfiction work about the study of life in the universe. Dr. Bova's Web site address is www.benbova.net.