Garnet Star

As I cycled home from chapel last week, the clear sky allowed me to see Mu Cephei, that beautiful red star, which William Herschel called the Garnet Star. It is a red supergiant (or hypergiant) star located in the constellation Cepheus. It has a radius around 1,420 times that of the Sun, which makes it a gargantuan feature of the night sky, even though it appears as a tiny, distant pinprick of reddish light to our naked eye. It is much cooler than our Sun which gives a yellow/white light due to its temperature of around 5,500 degrees C, while the Garnet’s temperature is approximately 3,500 degrees C, which contributes toward its reddish colour. Space dust also likely adds to its redness.  

Above: Mu Cephei "The Garnet Star" 2023 (Ha and OIII) by NiKo 

Both Zechariah (chapter 6) and Revelation (also chapter 6) record visions of horses of red playing their part in apocalyptic affairs. Many have tried to interpret them and understand them, but the colour red is often a scriptural motif for judgement. Asks Isaiah in chapter 63:

“Why is Your apparel red and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?”

The glorious Christ replies:

“I have trodden the winepress alone,

And from the peoples no one was with Me.

For I have trodden them in My anger,

And trampled them in My fury;

Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,

And I have stained all My robes.” (NKJV)

He who was stained red with His own blood at His first coming will surely be splashed red with his enemies’ at His second. I cannot say that the Garnet star is a harbinger of holy judgement, but I can say that holy judgement is nevertheless on the horizon.