A Star
“And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth:” (Rev 9:1a KJV)
The star that fell from heaven is most likely an angel. In this verse it is called ‘him’ and in verse 2 it is called ‘he’. He has the key to the bottomless pit. There are a few possibilities as to the identity of this angel.
In chapter 20 an angel has the key of the bottomless pit.
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.” (Rev 20:1 KJV)
Another possibility is the angel with the key could be Satan, since he controls and leads the fallen angels.
The Bottomless Pit
“and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” (Rev 9:1b KJV)
The bottomless pit most likely refers to the abyss, the place where the demons are imprisoned.
“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;” (2Pe 2:4 KJV)
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” (Jud 1:6 KJV)
“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” (Rev 11:7 KJV)
“The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” (Rev 17:8 KJV)
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
(Rev 20:1-3 KJV)
Bottomless – 12 ἄβυσσος abussos {ab’-us-sos}
Meaning: 1) bottomless 2) unbounded 3) the abyss 3a) the pit 3b) the immeasurable depth 3c) of Orcus, a very deep gulf or chasm in the lowest parts of the earth used as the common receptacle of the dead and especially as the abode of demons
Pit – 5421 φρέαρ phrear {freh’-ar}
Meaning: 1) a well 2) the pit of the abyss (because the nether world is thought to increase in size the further it extends from the surface of the earth and so resemble a cistern, the orifice of which is narrow)