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

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 peoplebelieved 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 newspapers 40 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-medium 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