On this past Sept. 27, a rare phenomenon in the night sky gave the people of Earth a little show to watch. A total lunar eclipse/“Blood Moon” occured, which happens when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are in perfect alignment and the Earth casts a shadow onto the Moon, often giving it a red glow, hence giving it it’s name “Blood Moon.”

This lunar eclipse, however, appears to be special. This eclipse would be the fourth eclipse that completes a lunar tetrad. A lunar tetrad is a series of four eclipses that occur over the span of two years, with at least six full moons happening between two lunar eclipses in a tetrad. The four total eclipses in this lunar tetrad occurred on April 15, 2014, Oct. 8, 2014,  April 4, 2015, and finally the one that occurred Sunday night, Sept. 27. Lunar tetrads are very rare, occurring a couple times a century, sometimes even skipping over a few centuries. According to NASA, the 21st century will have only eight tetrads.

Some people believe in the “Blood Moon Prophecy,” which states that the lunar tetrad that began on April 15, 2014 is a sign of the end of times, as described in the Bible (Act 2:20 and Revelation 2:20). As predicted by the prophecy, all four took place on Jewish holidays – either Passover or Sukkot. The prophecy goes into more detail, stating that following the final eclipse will be a series of events, including earthquakes, meteor showers, and will end in the battle of Armageddon.

These apocalyptic beliefs were promoted by Christian minister John Hagee, who wrote a book interpreting the prophecy, entitled “Four Blood Moons.” Mark Blitz was another minister who promoted these beliefs.

Regarding these predictions, junior Ahmed Ashkar stated, “I think these lunar eclipses have nothing to do with the end of the world, but people create legends like this because maybe they see the world as a sphere of mysteries, and therefore they create answers to solve these mysteries.”

Freshman Taylor Beverly expressed a similar view doubting the Blood Moon Prophecy. “I believe God will determine when the world will end, not how many consecutive lunar eclipses will occur.”

Another freshman, Kayah Britt, said that she believes this is a hoax. “I actually don’t really believe [the prophecy] because during the year 2012, it was said the world would end after the year was over, and it never did,” she said.