News Digest

Spectacular ‘Blood Moon’ total eclipse wows skywatchers again

A total lunar eclipse is turning the moon blood red in skies across Asia and North America. The “blood moon” is visible until sunrise, NASA said. It is the second eclipse this year, after the phenomenon was observed last April. The “blood moon” occurs when the Earth’s shadow passes over the moon. The phenomenon, known as a tetrad, will be repeated next year, expected on 4 April and 28 September, 2015.

You might expect Earth to be utterly dark, but … the rim of the planet is on fire. You’re seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all at once.

Tony Phillips, an astronomer with SpaceWeather.com

But after that, the spectacle will not happen again until 2032. Previous tetrads have coincided with significant religious events, and some Christians believe the event could be foreboding disaster or some natural catastrophe. They refer to a passage in the Bible that states: “The Sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord comes.”