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Rare ‘tetrad’ of total lunar eclipses begins next week, does not spell the end of the world

On the night of April 14 to 15, the sun, Earth and moon will be in 'syzygy', lined up perfectly so that the full moon will pass through the centre of Earth's shadow, producing a total lunar eclipse that will be visible throughout North America and South America. The last time this part of the world saw a total lunar eclipse was back in December of 2011, but what's even more special about this one is that it marks the beginning of a 'tetrad' — four total lunar eclipses in a row, each separated by a period of roughly six months.

For anyone living in Canada or the continental United States, if you don't want to miss any of it, the eclipse starts at 12:55 a.m. and ends at 6:38 a.m., on the morning of April 15 (no guarantees that the weather will cooperate though). That's from the point where the moon enters Earth's penumbra — the defuse outer 'ring' of the planet's shadow — to the point where it leaves the penumbra. However, from the start up until just before 2 a.m., there won't be too much to see except a slight dimming of the moon's brightness. If you really want to see the good part, be sure to be watching starting at just before 2 a.m until after 5:30 a.m., since that's when the moon will pass through the Earth's umbra — the darkest part of its shadow — and it will reach the peak of the eclipse ('totality') at right around 3:47 a.m. Eastern Time.

Unlike meteor showers, were you can ignore time zones because the shower 'rises' at the same relative time no matter where you live (as that part of the world rotates to face into the stream), eclipse times have to be adjusted for time zone or you'll miss it. So, on the Pacific coast, the eclipse runs between just before 10 p.m. on the 14th to just after 3:30 am on the 15th, while on the Atlantic coast (which will only be seeing a partial lunar eclipse, by the way), it will be between around 2 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. (or 2:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. if you're in NFLD).

After this eclipse is over, we can look forward to three more total lunar eclipses after it — on October 8, 2014, April 4, 2015 and Sept. 28, 2015. The next two will be visible only from the Pacific Ocean (so Hawaii will have a great view and you can count on there being footage on the internet), but North and South America will have great seats for the last one!

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Unfortunately, whenever we have some kind of interesting astronomical event about to occur, some step forward to use it as a portent of the apocalypse. This one is certainly no exception, as two different Christian pastors are presenting this tetrad as 'Blood Moons' and a sign of biblical prophecy being fulfilled. The claim here is that because these four eclipses coincide with the Jewish holidays of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, and the last three times this happened it roughly coincided with some significant event for the Jewish people, something big is going to happen this time too. As for what that 'something' is ... apparently either there will be another significant event for the Jewish people (no details on what) or it will be 'the second coming of Christ.'

It's not like there are many people who actually believe that this tetrad holds any biblical significance (or any significance at all, other than an interesting coincidence), but it's worth noting that these occurrences aren't very rare at all, and there really isn't anything of a definite pattern to them either. Check out NASA's chart showing lunar eclipses and tetrads over 5,000 years of history and future, from 1,999 B.C. to 3,000 A.D., which shows how they happen from century to century.

As for why these eclipses are being called Blood Moons, that's a bit more simple. The actual 'Blood Moon' is the first full moon after the Harvest moon, in the fall (also called the Hunter's Moon), and has nothing to do with lunar eclipses. However, since the moon does turn red during a lunar eclipse, it's not too much of a stretch, and it sure does help to add a touch of drama when you're trying to sell books.

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