Greetings,

 
Earnest Martin, I believe, was a pioneer in using planetary computer programs to try to find the star of Bethlehem. Several others have done so as well, including J.R.Church, Helena Lehman, Robert Newman et.al.
 
Most of these believe that the stars indicate that the star of Bethlehem 'appeared' in 3bc.
 
Bob Schlenker's article was the one which first got me thinking about
the star of Bethlehem on the feast of Trumpets, 2bc. He apparently did
some research for J.R.Church. You can read his article here:

http://www.theopenscroll.com/when_jesus_was_born.htm

In this article, he lists a growing number of  bible students who favor the 2bc birth of Christ.
 
One of the problems I have with Martins's view involves the 2nd appearance of
the star of Bethlehem --- that is, how the planets/stars fulfilled both
appearances of the star, whose appearances are documented in Mat 2:9.

Mat 2:9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the
star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and
stood over where the young child was.

The wise men FIRST saw the star in the east (and at sunrise), then they saw it again a
second time after they departed from Jerusalem.

Professor Newman, has one 'possible' explanation, and his views are at:
 http://www.ibri.org/Papers/StarofBethlehem/75starbethlehem.htm

Professon Newman claimed that the alignment of Jupiter/Regulus/Venus in
3bc was the 'first appearance' of the star of Bethlehem ---
a 'natural' thing which can be viewed with planetary computer programs;
however, he realized, that such 'alignments' did not occur a second
time, hence, he claimed that the 'second appearance' was a supernatural
thing --- which does not show up on computer programs.

This doesn't jive with mat 2:9; which plainly states that the same star
which appeared in the east also appeared as they left jerusalem.

In my view, part of the star of Bethlehem has to do with the
conjunction of 3 planets on Aug 26th,2bc. They conjunctioned a second
time on Nov 6,1ad; the 3 planets: Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury all
conjunct again in Libra (which is next to Virgo), and this time Venus
is alot closer to them, so much so, that you could consider this a
conjunction of 4 planets!!