Sabah & Sarawak Superblog

KOTA KINABALU - A total lunar eclipse — sometimes called a "blood moon" — is coming to the will be visible over Sabah starting from 6:18 pm and will end at 9:44 pm today.



The moon will slowly wander into the Earth's shadow. Eventually, the shadow will completely envelop the moon and block nearly all sunlight, creating a total eclipse and causing the moon to glow red from small amounts of light passing through our atmosphere:



Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse is totally safe to watch without eye protection, and lasts for a few hours.



In recent years, the term Blood Moon has been frequently used to refer to Total Lunar Eclipses. Some sources suggest that the origin of the term in the context of the 2014-2015 lunar tetrad can be traced to Christian pastors Mark Blitz and John Hagee, who claim that the eclipses fulfill a Biblical prophecy of forthcoming difficult and trying times.



On the other hand, Blood Moon is not a scientific term used by astronomers. It is possible that the term came to describe Total Lunar Eclipses because of the reddish color the eclipsed Moon takes on during totality. This happens because of Rayleigh scattering, the same mechanism that causes colorful sunrises and sunsets and the sky to look blue.



The April 4, 2015 Total Lunar Eclipse is the third in a series of four Total Lunar Eclipses called the lunar tetrad. The first two eclipses of the tetrad took place on April 15, 2014 and October 8, 2014. The last eclipse will be on September 28, 2015.



Notice something interesting about the dates? Each of the Lunar Eclipses in the tetrad occurs about 6 months apart and has 5 full Moons between them!



Phases of the Moon



Lunar tetrads can be rare in some centuries and can occur frequently in others. The 21st century will have eight lunar tetrads, the maximum number of lunar tetrads that can occur in a century. The last time this happened was in the 9th century!



The next lunar tetrad of the 21st century will start with the Total Lunar Eclipse on April 25, 2032.



From: SaSa General FEED