Monday, June 30, 2014

What is a Blood Moon?

Back in April I discussed the April 15, 2014 Lunar Eclipse observable in most of the western hemisphere.  This eclipse was also called a Blood Moon.  So what's a Blood Moon?

Officially...nothing.  Astronomers do not use the term Blood Moon.  The best I could find on the use of the term Blood Moon is in biblical prophesies.  More on this here:


All lunar eclipses appear reddish/brownish/orangish during totality, so I guess you can say the Moon sort of looks blood colorish.  But that's a big stretch.  Here's a picture of a typical lunar eclipse in totality.


That's a far cry from the color of blood.  To conclude, the term Blood Moon is not used in astronomy and it's not a term you'll see me use again, unless I have to debunk some crazy claim or lie regarding lunar eclipses.  :-)

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