The Night of the Blood Red Moon

The Sign of the Red Moon

The Open Scroll - A red moon is noted in a number of scriptures relevant to the last days prior to our Lord's coming. The Apostle Peter quoted Joel 2:28-32 in his address to those present at the opening event of this present church age. In this discourse, he suggested the events at the close of the age.

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. - Joel 2:28-32

The book of Revelation contains another significant mention of a sign of the red moon.

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. - Revelation 6:12-14

There are a number of reasons the moon would appear red. Viewing the moon through a very dusty or smoky sky would cause it to appear this way. Heavy volcanic activity, an asteroid impact, a nuclear explosion or some combination of these would cause such a phenomenon. In the scriptures noted above, the moon turning red is mentioned in conjunction with the sun turning black, suggesting to me that the event which will cause this unusual discoloration of the celestial bodies will be caused by an atmospheric condition. The moon also turns red during a lunar eclipse. Although a lunar eclipse wouldn't cause the sun and stars to be darkened, it is a rare enough celestial event to be noteworthy, especially as there have been so many of late corresponding to the Holy Day calendar.

Lunar Eclipse Last Night Blood Red Moon

June 17, 2011

The Galactic Roundtable - Nature seems to work its wonders in well orchestrated series these days. The volcanic dust from the recent eruption in Chile has made the moon deep blood red during last night's lunar eclipse.

Though we've seen the crimson moon last winter, this year's eclipse is the first in 11 years to last for whole 100+ minutes. Europe and South America had a better viewing time in the evening, but in Asia, Africa, and Australia the show took place in the wee hours, too late for the non-hardcore night owls. North America unfortunately didn't get their share of the eclipse, for this grand scale event ended just around 7 p.m. EST.

(PHOTOS: Total Eclipse of the Moon)

Despite the varying show times, people around the globe brought much excitement and festivity to the viewings. At Sydney Observatory in Australia, a woman in vampire costume and a boy in Superman gears were among the crowd that watched the moon disappear into earth's shadows. Manila's stargazers came well prepared with warm blankets and coffee flasks. Egyptians gathered in the now historic Tahrir Square and watched in awe. Some Singaporean enthusiasts even waited four hours to reserve the best viewing spots at a local science center.

One expert, Professor Fred Watson, at the Australian Astronomical Observatory, however, says that the best view would be outer earth--from the moon itself.

"If you could watch the phenomena, you would see the earth moving across the sun and it creating a brilliant red rim around the earth," he said (via AFP).

Don't be discouraged even if you missed it this time around. There will be more celestial activities to come this year: the next total lunar eclipse will be on Dec 10, and partial solar eclipses, on July 1 and November 25.

(PHOTOS: Total Eclipse of the Sun)

The Night of the Blood Red Moon

Astronomer Mark Thompson explains why a lunar eclipse may dazzle night skies (but not in the U.S., sadly) on Wednesday June 15

If atmospheric conditions on Earth are right, the lunar eclipse may turn the moon's surface a blood red. Click to enlarge this image.

June 13, 2011

Discover.com - Throughout history there are countless examples of when eclipses have foretold doom. Significant events are chronicled to have taken place, shaping our past based on documented lunar eclipses.

On the 20th Sept. 331 B.C., before the Battle of Gaugamela between Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander The Great) and Emperor Darius III of Persia, an eclipse of the moon was observed.

Despite Alexander's army being considerably outnumbered, to astrologers of the time, the eclipse foretold Darius's defeat. As night fell on the battlefield, the eclipsed moon glowed a deep blood red, signaling blood would be spilled on that night, but not in Alexander's army.

As history shows, Alexander won the battle and it is thought the favorable forecast from astrologers gave his army the lift they needed (also, astrologers on the Persian side are rumored to have been bribed to foretell doom among Darius's men, impacting morale).

Nowadays, we know that these events simply coincided with the alignment of three celestial bodies, resulting in a stunning astronomical sight.

Lunar eclipses occur when the sun, Earth and moon sit in alignment and the Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon. Usually, of course, we can only see the moon because it reflects sunlight. But during an eclipse, the source of light is blocked and the moon's disk goes unusually dark.

However, the moon doesn't completely disappear since the gasses in our atmosphere act to bend some of the blocked sunlight, directing the red part of the solar spectrum back to the moon. Sometimes this has the effect of turning the moon a deep red, often blood red. The mechanism behind this phenomenon is called "Rayleigh scattering."

Sometimes the moon doesn’t completely fall into the shadow of the Earth, however. When this happens we see a partial lunar eclipse where only some of the moon goes dark -- only when it sinks completely into our shadow we see a total lunar eclipse.

An event like this occurs on Wednesday June 15 starting at 17:23 UT (6:23 p.m. GMT) and finishes at 23:02 UT (12:02 a.m. GMT, June 16). Note: The eclipse will not be visible from the USA, as it will be daytime when the eclipse occurs.

During this period, the shadow of the Earth will slowly drift across the moon. The moment when the moon begins to be completely shadowed by the Earth will be at 19:22 UT (8:22 p.m. GMT) -- this is known as the start of totality. It will end at 21:02 UT (10:02 p.m. GMT) when the shadow will once again be seen to slip slowly across the surface of the moon.

Just how red it will appear during totality will depend on the conditions in our atmosphere. If there is a lot of dust from a volcanic eruption, for example, the lunar surface may turn a dark brown, but if the atmosphere is clear, it may turn a striking blood red. It's never easy to predict quite how it will look, so keep your eyes peeled.

Unlike solar eclipses where the moon blocks the sun from our view in only a few locations on the planet, for lunar eclipses, as long as you can see the moon then you will see the eclipse.