The Moon Will Get A Blood Bath On April 14-15th
If you have a penchant for looking skyward, especially at night, looking at the stars, dreaming of what’s waiting out there, you’re in for a special treat. On April 15 many of us will be screaming at the heavens over all the taxes we just paid, and what we’ll see will reflect a little bit of our ire. There will be a lunar eclipse, but one that will result in a “blood moon.” If you’re wondering what that is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. The eclipse will cast a deep red hue over the satellite that makes it appear to be soaked in blood.
According to Tech Times, the April 14-15 eclipse will be the first of four blood moons that will occur over the course of the next 18 months. This is apparently not something that happens on the regular, to have so many happen in such quick succession. Called a lunar tetrad, this has only happened three times in the last 500 years, so you’re in for a treat, and something straight out of sci-fi.
Here’s what the article says about the upcoming lunar event:
During a total eclipse, the only light the moon receives is sunlight refracted by the edges of the Earth’s atmosphere. The refracted light causes the moon to appear red. Total lunar eclipses can be viewed from any location on Earth that faces the moon during the time of the eclipse. This is different from a total solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from specific areas affected by the eclipse.
That’s cool because it means that everyone will get to see the blood moon, weather permitting. So many times we hear of these fantastic phenomenon that happen, but that we don’t actually get to see because we live on the wrong coast or in the wrong hemisphere. The first event goes down early in the morning of April 15. Scientists estimate that it will begin at 3:07 AM Eastern and peak at 3:36, so set your alarms and have a pot of coffee ready to go. Overall the eclipse should last for a total of 77 minutes.
Lunar tetrads also to bear special significance for the Jewish religion. The previous three have all coincided with monumental moments in their history. The first occurred in 1492-93. That date may sound familiar as the date that Christopher Columbus “discovered” the new world, but this also marks the point in history where the Jews were expelled from Spain. The next lunar tetrad didn’t happen until 1949, which was the year that Israel officially became a sovereign nation. The last instance happened during the so-called Six-Day War in 1967, between Israel and its neighbors.
And if you were wondering, this trend looks to continue. Each of the four predicted blood moons just so happen to coincide with an important Jewish event. One will happen during the Feast of Tabernacles, another at Passover.
