Celestial Masterpiece : Blood Moon to be seen on 27-28th September all over the worldScientific explanation:
End of this month would bring a rare celestial event wherein sky-watchers can get an opportunity to witness a ‘Total Lunar eclipse’ that would give a copper color to the moon thus referring it to as “Blood Moon”. Besides, the moon will be closest to Earth hence being referred as ‘Super Moon’. September 28th 2015 also marks the end of ‘Lunar Tetrad’ and the full moon is also referred to as ‘Harvest Moon’. Lunar Tetrad means occurrence of four consecutive total lunar eclipses which are separated by six lunar months. The first total lunar eclipse occurred on April 15, 2014, followed by October 8, 2014, then April 4, 2015 and now on September 27-28, 2015. However, this fourth and final total lunar eclipse could be apocalyptic according to some Christian ministers. It was in 2013 when John Hagee, a Christian minister had claimed in his book “Four Blood Moons” that “Lunar Tetrad” fulfills a biblical prophecy that forecasts the end of the world. Hagee said: “The coming four blood moons points to a world-shaking event that will happen between April 2014 and October 2015”.
According to Hagee there is a reference of this event mentioned in Bible, Joel 2:30-31 which reads- “And I will show 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 coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.”
The Bible has also referred to Blood Moon in Revelation 6:12 (part of the passage about the Seven Seals) which reads- “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.” Scientists and atheists instantly mocked the pronouncement made by Hagee. An atheist, Bob Seidensticker at Patheos, noted that after going through some of Hagee’s theories which included those of blood moons coinciding with the Jewish holidays and other important events in the Jewish history, he found that the Christian minister is pretty unsure at certain points whereas total believer at other which is very much confusing and absurd. What we need to notice here is that Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycle and it would coincide with the celestial events occurring in the cosmic world. Thus in 2013, Seidensticker wrote: “I predict that John Hagee’s prediction will fail in 2015 and the end will not come.” It is also a fact that of the four total lunar eclipses, three were not visible in Israel, thus Seidensticker also wrote: “What good is a blood moon if God’s chosen can’t see it?” However, the “Blood Moon” expected on September 28 was giving jitters to a lot of folks and it was trending on Twitter. It is also believed that a lot of folks also watched an online documentary which is based on Hagee’s book! Some people were so superstitious that they even started co-relating the bumpy financial market with the “Blood Moon”, this has surely offended some Twitterati.
Scientific explanation:
It was explained in EarthSky.org, and astronomical site, that there have been in all 62 tetrads till date right from the first century. The site also mentioned that all the tetrads have followed natural cycles and it can be predicted using simple calculations, therefore people who love cosmology believe that a tetrad cannot be associated with any sort of destruction or apocalypse. Fred Espenak, NASA’s eclipse specialist explained that on September 28, 2015, there will a Total eclipse and the totality period would be for 1 hour and 11 minutes; however the greatest eclipse moment would be at 02:47 UTC. He also mentioned greatest eclipse moment all the places across the globe:
In U.S. it is 22:47 EDT, 21:47 CDT, 19:47 PDT on September 27. In Europe, Middle East, Asia including India and Australia it would be at 03:47 BST, 04:47 CET, 9.17 IST, 05:47 AST, 09:47 ICT, 12:47 AEST on September 28.
Sky-watchers may also note that on September 13, 2015 they can also witness partial Solar eclipse which would be visible from Eastern Pacific, North and South America, Europe, Africa and Western Asia. Now, will this Total lunar eclipse occurring on September 28 be apocalyptic? This is still a major question which we all need to wait and watch. Well, it will definitely bring an end to something ……….if the World does not get destroyed then surely the predictions which are being based on the tetrads and making rounds from the last two years would come to an end! Don’t worry readers, the next tetrad is not due until 2032! so till then make sure you watch the “Blood Moon” on September 28, 2015.
