by The Great Christ Comet- Revealing the True Star of Bethlehem (retail) (epub)
Name
q
e
i
ω
Node
Period
2004 WK1
0.293
0.73
34.5
223.1
51.85
413.14 days
Hydrids (Vinf=30)
0.274
0.704
36.0
222.0
50.9
325.3 days
TABLE 14.5 A comparison of the orbit of asteroid 2004 WK1 to the orbit of the meteoroid stream responsible for the 6 BC Hydrids, assuming that the meteors radiated from HIP59373 126 minutes before sunrise and that Vinf=30.
If the meteoroid stream had a Jupiter-family orbit and its radiant was one-third of the way from γ (Gamma) Hydrae to HIP59373, it would have had a relatively small perihelion distance (q=0.173 AU), although larger than 96P/Machholz 1 (q=0.124 AU). It is interesting to compare the Hydrid meteoroid stream’s orbit with this comet’s (table 14.6).
Name
q
e
i
ω
Node
Period
96P/Machholz 1
0.124
0.959
58.30
14.756
94.32
5.24 years
Hydrids (Vinf=44)
0.173
0.958
46.1
227.0
51
8.36 years
TABLE 14.6 A comparison of the orbit of Comet 96P/Machholz 1 to the orbit of the meteoroid stream responsible for the 6 BC Hydrids, assuming that the meteors radiated from one-third of the way from γ (Gamma) Hydrae to HIP59373 and that Vinf=44.
Could it have been a Halley-type meteoroid stream? Since Halley-type meteoroids tend to peak just before dawn, whereas Jupiter-family meteoroids tend to peak just after midnight,28 and since the velocity and inclination of the meteoroid stream responsible for the Hydrid meteor storm are on or over the upper threshold of typical Jupiter-family meteoroid streams (approximately 11–35 km/second29 and 0–30 degrees respectively),30 a good case for the parent being a Halley-type comet, like C/1917 F1 (Mellish), can be made. Actually, the orbit of the Hydrid meteoroid stream, assuming that the radiant of the meteors was two-thirds of the way from γ (Gamma) Hydrae to HIP59373 or from γ (Gamma) Hydrae itself, is reminiscent of Comet Mellish in perihelion distance and eccentricity (table 14.7). David Asher, perceiving the similarity, backtracked the orbit of this comet to see if it matched, but found that Mellish’s argument of perihelion and ascending node did not evolve in a way that realistically permitted it itself to be the parent of the meteoroid stream.31
Name
q
e
i
ω
Node
Period
C/1917 F1 (Mellish)
0.190
0.993
32.68
121.32
88.67
145 years
Hydrids A (Vinf=49)
0.196
0.993
66.3
51.1
232.8
148.16 years
Hydrids B (Vinf=44)
0.177
0.984
36.0
50.9
229.5
36.79 years
TABLE 14.7 A comparison of the orbit of Comet C/1917 F1 (Mellish) to the orbit of the meteoroid stream responsible for the 6 BC Hydrids, assuming that the meteors radiated from two-thirds of the way from Gamma Hydrae to HIP59373 and that Vinf=49 (Hydrids A) or from γ (Gamma) and that Vinf=44 (Hydrids B).
FIG. 14.9 Possible orbits of the meteoroid stream responsible for the meteor storm of October 19, 6 BC. Apollo asteroid-type orbits fall within the pink zone, Jupiter-family orbits within the green zone, and Halley-type orbits within the yellow zone. The more elongated the orbit, the more steeply inclined it is. The outermost planetary orbit is that of Uranus. Image credit: Sirscha Nicholl.
Whether the meteoroid stream or its parent comet (or cometary asteroid) has already been recorded, will be recorded in the near future, or no longer exists, we do not know. If the original stream remains intact and crosses Earth’s orbital path, and if the parent body, or even a part of it, still survives after two millennia, by means of orbital backtracking we might well be able to identify or associate them. I must leave this task to specialists in solar system dynamics.
Assuming that there was one horn for each of the seven heads of the sea-dragon, we are presumably to envision that the 8th, 9th, and 10th heads have been cut off, but that the three horns nevertheless remain. Each of the seven heads has a crown, but there are no crowns to go with the three headless horns. The scene is strongly reminiscent of Daniel 7’s fourth beast, which has ten horns, three of which are plucked up by the roots, leaving only seven (Dan. 7:7–8), although Daniel’s 10-3=7 horns have become Revelation’s 10-3=7 heads. This concurs with the fact that the dragon’s throwing of many stars to the earth in Revelation 12:4a is reminiscent of Daniel 8:10, where the little horn, representing the latter-day tyrant, threw down to the ground “some of the host and some of the stars . . . and trampled on them.” In other words, in Revelation 12:3–4a Hydra is introduced in such a way as to identify him with the eschatological rebellion of humanity against Yahweh, which is led by a blasphemous world ruler.32
How might the meteor activity of Revelation 12:4 elucidate the description of verse 3?
First, the fire color of Hydra is explicable astronomically with reference to the intense meteor activity in that part of the sky. The high frequency of meteors, fireballs, and bolides would have caused the constellation to look like it was on fire from its heads to its tail. A Macon, Georgia, newspaper described what it was like during the 1833 Leonid meteor storm: “We do not jest when we say that stubborn hearts were bent and flinty hearts melted into deep contrition at the alarming prospect of ‘the heavens on fire.’”33 So bright were the many thousands of meteors that copious witnesses spoke of the scene as one in which everything seemed to be on fire.34
FIG. 14.10 The Leonid Meteor Storm, as illustrated in Mechanics’ Magazine (November 1833).
FIG. 14.11 The Leonid Meteor Storm of November 13, 1833. From W. A. Spicer, Our Day in the Light of Prophecy (Nashville: Southern Publishing Association, 1917), 92.
One observer of the storm from Bowling Green, Missouri, wrote,
Forcibly we were reminded of that remarkable passage in Revelations [sic] which speaks of the great red dragon, as drawing the third part of the stars of heaven and casting them to the earth; and if it be a figurative expression, that figure appeared to be fully painted on the broad canopy of the sky,—spread over with sheets of light, and thick with streams of rolling fire. There was scarcely a space in the firmament which was not filled at every instant with these falling stars. . . .35
Many witnesses reported that most of the meteors were about half the size of Jupiter, with some being larger and some smaller,36 and a minority being larger than the full Moon.37 A significant number of people believed that the stars were actually abandoning their places: “The sky presented the appearance of a shower of stars, which many thought were real stars, and omens of dreadful events.”38 According to a minister in Annapolis, “Their appearance was so incessant during some part of the phenomenon that all the stars of the firmament seemed to be darting from their places.”39 The intense brightness of a great meteor storm is sufficient for people to read newspapers40 and sufficient to awaken the sleeping, convincing them that their residences are on fire.41
Besides this, some meteors have an orange or red hue and some are yellow.42 The color is a reflection of the physical constituency of the meteoroid, its velocity, and its brightness.43 Silicate meteors tend to be red, while sodium-rich meteors tend to be orange and yellow, and iron-rich meteors may appear yellow.44 At the same time, it is widely thought that slow-to-med
ium meteors tend to be more red, orange, and yellow, and that faster meteors (like the Leonids) tend to have a green or blue hue. In the case of the Hydrid meteor storm, the richness in reds, oranges, and yellows (= fire-colored) is probably due to both the constituency of the meteors and their medium velocity.45 It is likely that the meteors of the meteor storm of 6 BC were considerably fierier in color than those of the 1833 Leonid meteor storm.
Second, the seven heads, on which were crowns and horns, may be explained with reference to fireballs in the area associated with Hydra’s head.46 Since the scene is transpiring during a meteor storm, we can safely assume that the heads were not caused by ordinary meteors but rather by extraordinarily bright fireballs. Like the 1998 Leonid meteor display, this was a fireball-rich meteor outburst.
FIG. 14.12 The Great Meteor of August 18, 1783, by Henry Robinson. The bolide initially appeared as a single fiery ball, but then fragmented into a number of smaller balls. Note that each ball of light has a horn-like trail. Image credit: Dr. Arnaud Mignan, Tricottet Collection Image Archive, http://www.thetricottetcollection.com. The original has been slightly modified by Sirscha Nicholl with the kind permission of Dr. Mignan.
Fireballs may take various forms. Sometimes they consist simply of short or long bright streaks of light, but often they have extraordinarily bright heads at the front of the streaks. In shape, these heads may be round, oval, or (most commonly) pear-shaped. As anyone who has seen footage from the dashboard cameras that captured the astonishing fireball (technically, superbolide) over Chelyabinsk on February 15, 2013 (the brightness of which exceeded that of the Sun!) can testify, the streaks may look remarkably like horns, and the heads are well named because they are capable of looking very like creaturely heads. The conical region at the rear of a pear-shaped fireball head could readily pass for a stunning tall, or tiara-style, crown.47
FIG. 14.13 A fireball seen from a camera at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on September 30, 2011. Image credit: NASA/Meteoroid Environment Office/Bill Cooke.
FIG. 14.14 A Leonid fireball during the November 2002 meteor shower—still images taken from a short movie. Images credit: NASA/MSFC/MEO/Bill Cooke. Image framing: Sirscha Nicholl.
FIG. 14.15 A fireball photographed by a fish-eye camera of the Czech Republic station of the European Fireball Network on January 21, 1999. Image credit and copyright: Pavel Spurný, Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Ondrejov.
FIG. 14.16 This Leonid fireball in November 2002 left a train that lasted for more than 4 minutes. Image credit and copyright: George Varros, New Market, Maryland, www.gvarros.com.
The fireballs, together with the meteor storm, would have caused Hydra to come to life, indeed in 3D, with the dragon’s heads appearing to move up and outward toward the observer, with their horns sticking out the back of their heads.
As regards the three horns without heads or crowns, we may presume that they consisted of very bright fireballs in the head region of Hydra that looked like horns, but that failed to develop notable heads.
In summary, on the eve of the celestial birth scene, a great meteor storm occurred, radiating from the tail of Hydra, the serpentine dragon. To observers convinced that the cometary phenomenon that was happening in the neighboring constellation in those days was the announcement of the Messiah’s birth, the meteor storm would have seemed significant. It suggested that a great spiritual conflict was brewing between the forces of Order and the forces of Chaos, a conflict focused on the Messiah and his birth.
Hydra, the celestial representative of the forces of Evil and Disorder, appeared to have seven heads of power and crowns of sovereignty, arrogantly displaying his great royal authority. As the seven heads and ten horns streaked up into the upper half of Hydra, it must have looked like the serpent was rearing itself up self-assertively and aggressively, just as the highly venomous Black Mamba and King Cobra rear themselves up when they feel threatened and are about to attack a potential victim. At that time the dragon seemed to use its tail to hurl to the earth one-third of the stars of heaven. The celestial developments that night climaxed with the unforgettable image of the woman in the advanced stages of childbirth and the dragon beside her, looking like they were both standing on the western horizon. As the last predawn scene before the cometary baby’s birth, this one set the stage for the climax of the celestial nativity drama, the birth scene, the following day.
What did it mean? Hydra was representing the forces of Chaos, and in particular the ultimate orchestrator of the worldwide rebellion of humanity at the end of the age and the authority and power behind the latter-day world tyrant, Satan (Rev. 12:17ff.). Hydra had come alive on the eve of the Messiah’s birth in order to reveal that the forces of Disorder were intent on mounting a preemptive strike against the one who was destined to overcome them, who would put down the rebellion of humanity against God at the end of the age, and in particular who would vanquish the Devil and his eschatological henchman, the Antichrist. The evil empire felt gravely threatened by the Messiah’s appearance on the earthly stage and was determined to kill him. Eager to thwart the divine plan to establish the rule of God on the earth, the ultimate possessor of the Antichrist’s royal authority was dead set on destroying the Messiah as soon as he had fully emerged from his mother’s belly. What was at stake was the ultimate fate of the world.
The dramatic events on October 19 climaxed with Hydra standing, as π (Pi) Hydrae rose sufficiently so that it was level with the eastern horizon. It is possible that the meteor storm had died down by this point, because Earth had already completed its pass through the dense section of the meteoroid stream. If not, the meteor storm would soon have fallen victim to the bleaching effect of the rising Sun. Naturally, at sunrise most meteors become invisible because of the intensity of the sunlight. However, during the Leonid storms such was the preponderance of bright meteors that they could still be observed streaking across the sky after sunrise (“the beautiful shower of fire” in 1833 continued “till after daylight”48).
Undoubtedly the meteor storm ratcheted up the tension. Indeed the tension could hardly have been greater as the final night of observing before the birth came to a close. The touching scene of Virgo pregnant and giving birth to the cometary baby had been transformed into a taut thriller.
Glossary of Astronomical Terms
Absolute magnitude. A measurement of the intrinsic brightness of a celestial object: the brightness it would have if it were precisely 1 AU from both Earth and the Sun. On magnitude values, see Magnitude.
Acronychal rising. A celestial body’s rising in the east as the Sun is setting in the west.
Almanac. A collection of astronomical predictions, especially relating to the positions of the planets, for an upcoming year.
Altitude. The apparent height (in degrees) of a celestial body relative to the horizon.
Antitail. A thin cometary “mini-tail” that points toward the Sun.
Aphelion. The point in a celestial body’s orbit where it is farthest from the Sun.
Apparent magnitude. The brightness of a celestial object as it appears from Earth. On magnitude values, see Magnitude.
Apparition. The time during which a comet is visible in the sky.
Arcminute. An astronomical angular measurement equal to one sixtieth of one degree.
Arcsecond. An astronomical angular measurement equal to one sixtieth of one arcminute.
Argument of perihelion (ω). The angular distance (in degrees) from the longitude of the ascending node (on which, see Longitude of the ascending node) to the perihelion point, measured in the celestial body’s orbital plane and in the direction of the body’s motion.
Ascending node. The point at which a celestial body’s orbit crosses the plane of the ecliptic as the orbit moves from the south to the north.
Asterism. A pattern of stars in the sky.
Asteroid. A planet-like rocky or metallic body that orbits the Sun.
Asteroid belt. The region of the solar system between Mars and Jupiter where most asteroids are found.
Asteroidal comet. A comet that is no longer active and therefore is mistakable for an asteroid.
Astronomical diaries. Babylonian records of daily astronomical observations; now preserved in the British Museum.
Astronomical twilight. The period before sunrise or after sunset that starts or ends when the Sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.
Astronomical unit (AU). A unit for measuring astronomical distances: 1 AU is the average distance between Earth and the Sun during the year.
Azimuth. The distance (in degrees, measured clockwise) from due north to the point where a vertical line downward from a given celestial object intersects the horizon.
Backscattering. A phenomenon that boosts the brightness of a comet when it is on the other side of Earth from the perspective of the Sun, or the other side of the Sun from the perspective of Earth. The sunlight is reflected back off the comet’s larger dust particles.
Binary system. A system of two stars orbiting around a common center of mass.
Bolide. A fireball that attains to an apparent magnitude of between -14 and -17.
Brightness slope (n). The pattern of development of a comet’s brightness, expressed as the value of “n.”
Centaur. A comet- or asteroid-like “minor planet” that orbits between Jupiter and Neptune.
Circumpolar. Celestial bodies near a celestial pole that do not rise or set during a 24-hour day, because they do not drop below the horizon.