WATCH LIVE First Total lunar eclipse BLOOD MOON rises

Admin Mon 14 Apr 2014, 11:08 pm

WATCH LIVE: First total lunar eclipse of 2014 dawns as the BLOOD MOON rises
A TOTAL lunar eclipse will turn the moon a dark blood red tonight.
Just after Mars reaches its closest point to earth in six years, a distance of a mere 57.4 million miles, a total lunar eclipse will spectacularly change the colour of the moon.
But don't get too twitchy with the curtains in the early hours - only people in north and south America will be able to see it with the naked eye.
If you live in the UK, mainland Europe or most of the rest of the world by far your best chance of seeing the eclipse is right here, on the live webcam below.
Tonight's eclipse is the first of four in the next two years - a rare astrological event called a Tetrad which some religious extremists believe heralds the end of the world.
The Bible predicts: 'The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD.'
And as Express.co.uk reported last week, the four successive total 'blood-red' lunar eclipses each followed by six full moons - will start tonight and finish on September 28 2015.
Pastor and author John Hagee, from San Antonio, Texas, has written a book on the Tetrad phenomenon. He believes tonight marks the dawn of a 'hugely significant event' for the world.
He says: "NASA has confirmed that the Tetrad has only happened three times in more than 500 years - and that it's going to happen now."
The incredible alignment has only happened a handful of times in the last two thousand years but on each of the last three occasions it has coincided with a globally significant religious event.
The first Tetrad since the Middle Ages, in 1493, saw the expulsion of Jews by the Catholic Spanish Inquisition, which rocked western Europe.
The second coincided with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1949 and the last one occurred in 1967 precisely at the time of the Six-Day Arab–Israeli War.
Mr Hagee added: "According to the Biblical prophecy, world history is about to change dramatically.
"To get four blood moons you need something absolutely extraordinary in astrological terms.
"What is so remarkable about these blood moons is that they specifically fulfill prophecies set out in the Bible.
"Even Jesus himself, in the Book of Luke, states there 'will be signs in the sun, moon and stars' and to 'lift up your heads for redemption draws nigh'.
"There's a sequence of prophetic events that the Bible says will happen. It does not, ever, give a timeline.
"It just says 'when you see these signs' - and four blood moons is a very significant one - 'the end of this age is coming."
According to NASA, the moon will turn blood red for a different, less dramatic reason.
During a lunar eclipse the Moon doesn't fully disappear from sight but moves into the darkest part of Earth’s shadow, known as the umbra.
As a result, the earth blocks sunlight from reflecting off the moon's surface and instead it passes through the earth's atmosphere thus making the moon appear a reddish colour.
NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak said: "The most unique thing about the 2014-2015 Tetrad is that all of them are visible for all or parts of the USA.
"During the 21st century, there are 8 sets of Tetrads, so I would describe tetrads as a frequent occurrence in the current pattern of lunar eclipses.
"But this has not always been the case. During the three hundred year interval from 1600 to 1900, for instance, there were no Tetrads at all."
Professor Gary Shogren, a former pastor and New Testament expert, said: "You’ll never go broke predicting the apocalypse."