I understand your skepticism. I was skeptical myself when I was exposed to this, but after considering that God himself said he uses the Sun, moon, and stars for seasons and "Signs" in Genesis 1:14 I started to look at it differently.
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for SIGNS, and for seasons, and for days, and years:"
Almost all the Jewish feast days are dictated by the phase of the moon and the position of the Sun in certain constellations. The Passover for example happens when the Sun is in Aries (the lamb/ram) and during the full moon which would but the Moon in the constellation Virgo the virgin. This all symbolized the Virgin birth of the Messiah as the sacrificial lamb of God. This shows that nothing God does is random and he used His whole creation to declare His glory.
Psalms 19
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
The Sun, Moon, and planets are like a giant clock in the sky. They each have their own movement and speed. If we pair that with the 12 major constellations (Zodiac or the Mazzaroth as it is known in the Hebrew tongue) we would see a amazing tool to date certain events centuries in the future.
Most of the language used in describing astronomical dating by the Prophets are overlooked by modern Christians because of the lack of understanding of their culture and traditions. Plus, we have been taught that almost anything related to the stars and planets is Astrology and that is sinful. When we read about a "7 headed beast" or a "dragon" we think in terms of a spiritual vision and totally miss that the language being used is describing astronomical bodies and positioning of the planets in relation to particular constellations at a certain time in history.
I did a small video explaining this over Daniel Chapter 8 (Ram and Goat). It is one of the best prophecies to use in order to show the relationship of the planets and constellations with real world events because the Angel Gabriel walks Daniel through the meanings of the vision. And since this prophecy has already been fulfilled, we can verify our work.