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timeanddate.com Sign in Home Sun, Moon & Space Eclipses Blood Moon What Is a Blood Moon?

By Aparna Kher and Konstantin Bikos

A fully eclipsed Moon is sometimes called a Blood Moon for its reddish color. The term is also used to describe another astronomical phenomenon.

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Next Total Lunar Eclipse: T3 03 Tháng ba 2026 p. … See animation

Next Eclipse: Annular Solar Eclipse – T3 17 Tháng hai 2026 p. … See animation

Illustration of how Earth's atmosphere scatters blue light. Illustration of how Earth's atmosphere scatters blue light.

During a total lunar eclipse, Earth’s atmosphere scatters blue light, allowing only red hues to illuminate the Moon.

Three Definitions

Although not a scientific term, Blood Moon is commonly used to refer to three different phenomena:

  1. A total lunar eclipse
  2. A lunar tetrad
  3. The Full Moon in October
YouTube thumbnail for partial lunar eclipse on September 8, 2025, showing eclipsed moon.Lunar Eclipse Live Stream

We are streaming the total eclipse of tonight’s Full Moon. See it LIVE here!

A Blood-Red Moon

The first—and most common—usage of the term points to a fully eclipsed Moon. If you’ve ever witnessed a lunar totality, you may understand how this term came about and why it has become so popular: As the Earth’s shadow blocks all direct sunlight from falling onto the lunar surface, the Moon usually takes on a reddish color.

You can see the effect in the image below, which was taken during the total lunar eclipse in September 2015.

A bright red Moon during a total lunar eclipse against a black night sky.

A Blood Moon gracing the night sky in September 2015.

Deanne Fortnam

Eclipses in your city (with animations)

Why Are Blood Moons Red?

A total lunar eclipse happens when the Moon travels through the Earth’s umbra, which blocks all direct sunlight from illuminating the Moon’s surface. However, some red light still reaches the lunar surface indirectly, via the Earth’s atmosphere, bathing the Moon in a reddish, yellow, or orange glow.

As the Sun’s rays pass through the atmosphere, some colors in the light spectrum—those towards the violet spectrum—are filtered out by a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering. This is the same mechanism that causes colorful sunrises and sunsets. Red wavelengths are least affected by this effect, so the light reaching the Moon’s surface has a reddish hue, causing the fully eclipsed Moon to take on a red color.

Depending on the composition of the atmosphere, different parts of the light spectrum are filtered out, so the Moon may also look yellow, orange, or brown during a total lunar eclipse.

Is a Blue Moon really blue?

Watch a recording of our livestream of the Blood Moon eclipse on March 13-14, 2025.©timeanddate.com

What you can see during a total solar eclipse

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Lunar Tetrads

The second definition of Blood Moon has spiritual origins, but it still refers to an actual astronomical phenomenon: a lunar tetrad, a term astronomers use to describe four total lunar eclipses that happen in the span of two years.

The eclipses in a tetrad occur about six months apart, with five uneclipsed Full Moons between them. Usually, only about one in three lunar eclipses are total, and about four to five total eclipses can be seen from any single location on Earth in a decade (though this ratio can vary by century). This means that lunar tetrads are rare occurrences, leading some to attach special, even religious, significance to these events.

The 2014–2015 lunar tetrad gathered a lot of attention because some religious organizations claimed that the eclipses in the tetrad were a sign of the end times. They called the eclipses Blood Moons after a statement in the Book of Joel in the Hebrew Bible that referred to the Sun turning dark and the Moon turning red before the second coming of Jesus.

Other doomsday prophecies that fell short

A Blood Moon hangs over the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, UK.

A Blood Moon hangs over the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, UK.

©iStockphoto.com/oversnap

How Often Do Lunar Tetrads Happen?

Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli calculated that the frequency of lunar tetrads varies over centuries. Some have several lunar tetrads, while others do not have any. For example, the years between 1582 and 1908 did not have any tetrads, whereas the next 250 years—from 1909 to 2156—will have 17 tetrads.

The current century—2001 to 2100—will have eight tetrads. The first tetrad of the 21st century took place in 2003-2004, the second was in 2014–2015, and the next will be in 2032–2033, with the following eclipses:

  • April 25/26, 2032
  • October 18/19, 2032
  • April 14/15, 2033
  • October 8, 2033

All eclipses 1900 – 2199

Hunter’s Moon

The third definition of a Blood Moon is unrelated to lunar eclipses. It originates from certain North American traditions, which use the term to describe the Full Moon in October.

It refers to the fact that October is usually the time of the year to hunt game and prepare meat for the coming winter. The October Full Moon is also known as Hunter’s Moon or Harvest Moon.

Traditional Full Moon names

Upcoming 5 Total Lunar Eclipses

02–03 Tháng ba 2026 p.Lunar Eclipse (Total)East in Europe, Asia, Australia, North America, South America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Arctic, Antarctica31 Tháng mười hai 2028 p.–01 Tháng một 2029 p.Lunar Eclipse (Total)Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, North/West North America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Arctic25–26 Tháng sáu 2029 p.Lunar Eclipse (Total)Europe, West in Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Antarctica20–21 Tháng mười hai 2029 p.Lunar Eclipse (Total)Europe, Asia, North/West Australia, Africa, North America, South America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Arctic25–26 Tháng tư 2032 p.Lunar Eclipse (Total)South/East Europe, Asia, Australia, Much of Africa, Much of North America, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Antarctica

More details about upcoming Eclipses

Topics: Astronomy, Eclipses, Moon

Next Total Lunar Eclipse

81Days 2Hrs 4Mins 14Secs

Total Lunar Eclipse

03 Tháng ba 2026 p. 08:44:25 UTC … See more

Eclipse Lookup

Lunar Eclipses
  1. When Is the Next Lunar Eclipse?
  2. Total Lunar Eclipse
  3. Why Does the Moon Turn Red?
  4. Partial Lunar Eclipse
  5. Penumbral Lunar Eclipse
  6. Can I See a Lunar Eclipse?
  7. Blood Moon - Total Lunar Eclipse
  8. Eclipse Seasons
  9. What Is a Tetrad?
  10. Magnitude of Eclipses
  11. Accuracy of Our Eclipse Calculations
  12. Why Two Dates for a Lunar Eclipse?

Eclipses

Eclipse Shadows
  1. Umbra
  2. Penumbra
  3. Antumbra

Why Are There 3 Shadows?

A person stands by an orange tent, watching meteors streak across a starry night sky under the Milky Way.7 Big Astro Events in Your Lifetime

Your astronomical bucket list—the biggest sky and space highlights of the next half-century you can see with your own eyes.

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