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The Rare “Blood Moon” Rises

Just in time for Halloween, the “Blood Moon” rises this week
By - posted 10/7/2014 No Comment

There is a total eclipse of the full moon on the night of October 7-8, 2014. This is the Northern Hemisphere’s Hunter’s Moon – the name for the full moon after the Harvest Moon. It’s also a Blood Moon, and this eclipse is the second in a series of four so-called Blood Moon eclipses.

For North America and the Hawaiian Islands, the total lunar eclipse happens in the wee hours before sunrise on October 8. The total part of the October 8 eclipse lasts nearly 1 hour. A partial umbral eclipse precedes totality by about one hour and 10 minutes, and follows totality by about the same period of time, so the moon takes about 3 and 1/3 hours to completely sweep through the Earth’s dark shadow.

Lunar Eclipse – Pacific Daylight Time

Partial umbral eclipse begins: 2:15 a.m. PDT on October 8
Total eclipse begins: 3:25 a.m. PDT
>> Greatest eclipse: 3:55 a.m. PDT
Total eclipse ends: 4:24 a.m. PDT
Partial eclipse ends: 5:34 a.m. PDT

What’s a Blood Moon? Astronomy had not heard the term Blood Moon used in quite this way before this year, but now the term is becoming widespread in the media. The origin of the term is religious, at least according to Christian pastor John Hagee, who wrote a 2013 book about Blood Moons. However, both astronomers and some proponents of Christian prophesy are talking about the upcoming lunar tetrad – a series of total lunar eclipses:

2014:

  • Total lunar eclipse: April 14-15
  • Total lunar eclipse: October 8

2015:

  • Total lunar eclipse: April 4
  • Total lunar eclipse: September 28

Source: EarthSky