The Great Christ Comet by Colin Nicholl, Gary W. Kronk Page A

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/second 29 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