Blood Moon

For reasons unknown to TOP, last night's lunar eclipse, first of a tetrad, is being referred to in the media as a "blood moon," an old term supposedly from Biblical superstition. Jeffrey Goggin took this fine portrait of it from his driveway, using a Fuji X-Pro1 with an adapted Contax N 70–300mm racked all the way out, at ISO 2500 for 1 second at ƒ/4.

Snow?! C'mon, it's April! Take a rest for six months, winter.

Here in Wisconsin, alas, we saw nothing but overcast. Winter has returned for us—it snowed most of the day yesterday, and it's cold enough that this morning the ground and the rooftops are covered in white. It's almost enough to make a person superstitious!

Mike
(Thanks to Jeffrey Goggin)

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Comments

[Nige]

Good view of it here in Melbourne (well from my back yard at least)

[David Evans]

ISO 2500, eh? Can't stretch to that - and I was on the wrong side of the world anyway. Think I'll just take an uneclipsed full moon and change the colour. Who's to know?

[Ben]

The phrase 'Blood Moon' always makes me think of Jean Toomer's Cane, and the ominous refrain from the story Blood Burning Moon.

We were overcast too, but at least it's been warm here in the Northeaast. Bloodroot's flowering, too...

[Bryce Lee]

Yes and it's snowing and cold here in Southern Ontario as well this Tuesday April 15 morning. An excellent method to snarl highway traffic IMO. Mind come Friday the warm weather may well deem it proper to return; one may only hope...

[Mike R]

I've heard that the term "blood moon" refers to the reddish color when in totality. The moon's surface reflects what is in effect a "global sunset" (or sunrise).

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Here in Chicago "Blood Moon" has no relation to any astrophysical event. It's associated with a full/nearly-full moon occurring on a warm weekend, as it did this past weekend when 33 Chicagoans were wounded, and four were killed, by gunfire.

Gazes skyward can be fatal distractions in some of our finer neighborhoods.

[Tom Robbins]

Remarkably little light was reflecting from the eclipsed moon. I hauled my 600mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter out to the back yard to give it a go. Used ISO 800 and f/6.3, and had to settle for a 1.3 second shutter speed. http://www.pbase.com/image/155240727/original

[Jeffrey Behr]

My good friend Jeffrey Goggin and I have been comparing our two images, taken minutes and about 10 miles apart.

[Drew Medlin]

We had great weather in New Mexico for the eclipse. http://drewmedlin.com/LE1.jpg

[Malcolm Leader]

Well, I accidentally set my alarm for PM instead of AM. However, I did get a shot a few hours earlier with my 5DMKII and a 350mm X 1.4X extender (490mm). Then I used the magic of Photoshop. Can anyone tell?

http://www.pbase.com/meleader/image/155250575/original

It is more orange than red, IMHO.

[Gene Spesard]

So will the next total lunar eclipse, which will be the second in this lunar tetrad and also the Hunter's Moon (also referred to as a Blood Moon) be a Super Blood Moon?

[Dave]

I might have just accidentally found where the term "Blood Moon" comes from. This morning I was reading "The Prose Edda" (a compilation of Norse myths written in the Middle Ages) and I came across a passage about the creation of the moon. According to the myth, the moon circles the Earth because it is being chased by a giant wolf called Moongarm. The Edda states, "He will devour the moon, and stain the heavens and all the sky with blood. Thereby the sun will be darkened, the winds grow wild, and roar hither and thither."