CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — There will be a full “Blood Moon” total lunar eclipse during the morning of April 4, 2015, which also happens to fall on the Second Day of Passover and Easter Saturday in 2015. The total lunar eclipse, when the moon is expected to turn into a dark-copper red Blood Moon, will start at 7:58 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time and ends at 8:03 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
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| Lunar Eclipse. Credit: NASA/MSFC/Alphonse Sterling |
According to NASA, this full lunar eclipse is special because it is the third of four consecutive full lunar eclipses in 2014 and 2015 that make up a Tetrad. The first in the series occurred on April 15, 2014, with the second in the tetrad of eclipses in September of 2014, and the final will be September 28, 2015. For some believers in Christian prophecy, these four Blood Moons mark the beginning of the end of the World, Armageddon, and the Apocalypse.
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| Total Lunar Eclipse World Map. Credit: NASA/GSFC F. Espenak |
As the above NASA map shows, the eclipse will be visible from all parts of the United States. Eastern North America and western South America can see beginning stages of the partial umbral eclipse low in the west before sunrise April 4, whereas middle Asia (India, western China, mid-Asian Russia) can view the ending stages of the partial umbral eclipse low in the east after sunset April 4. Greenland, Iceland, Europe, Africa and the Middle East won’t see this eclipse at all.
Total lunar eclipses are referred to as “Blood Moons” because they often appear dark red in color. The reddish appearance of the Moon is caused by the Earth’s atmosphere filtering out blue light from the sunlight that reaches the Moon. Full Moons in April are also known as a Pink Moon. But the time of year that a Full Moon appears does not affect its color. The April 2015 Full Moon will likely appear a dark-copper red to those who can view the full lunar eclipse.
Timeline of eclipse on April 4, 2015
| Lunar Eclipse, April 4, 2015 | Eastern Daylight Time | Universal Time |
| Partial eclipse begins | 6:16 a.m. EDT | 10:15:45 UT |
| Totality begins | 7:58 a.m. EDT | 11:57:54 UT |
| Greatest eclipse | 8:00 a.m. EDT | 12:00:15 UT |
| Totality ends | 8:03 a.m. EDT | 12:02:37 UT |
| Partial eclipse ends | 9:45 a.m. EDT | 13:44:46 UT |
