It was a supernatural miracle of divine origin. Anyone who scours astronomical history or strains the laws of physics to explain an act of God clearly described in inerrant scripture is barking up the wrong tree. Just believe. Don’t allow your considerable intellect be your undoing. Allow your faith pride of place and watch what happens.
It seems to me that this would contradict just about everything else about the birth of Jesus that we read in Scripture. One of the defining characteristics of the Incarnation was that it was ordinary in almost every sense as humans would understand it. Jesus didn't just appear on earth as a grown man and begin His ministry. He was born to a human mother, and under ordinary and modest circumstances (not as a royal figure).
I find it far more remarkable that the Magi were driven by signs in the sky that were visible to everyone but whose meaning was only known to a select few. In the case of the Magi, they were likely acting on information that had been passed down from the prophet Daniel during the Babylonian captivity. As astrologers they would have been familiar with the night sky, and would have looked there for signs of what Daniel had foretold.
Everything about this narrative would be indicative of how Jesus lived on this earth for a brief period of time -- as the Son of God living and working miracles in plain sight among ordinary people, with ordinary disciples following Him.