SEPT 23 BLOOD MOON DOOMSDAY THEORY EXPLAINED

SEPT 23 BLOOD MOON DOOMSDAY THEORY EXPLAINED

As we all know, this will be the last DUNER BLOG ever. See, the world is slated to end on this coming Sunday, September 27th. Therefore, there will be no more human life, no more Internet, and no more DUNER BLOG. Confused? Well, let's sort this whole messy Blood Moon / Doomsday Prophecy thing out.

The Harvest Moon.  This refers to the full moon nearest to the Autumnal Equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere, the moon is at its closest point of the year to the earth, and is actually larger on the horizon than in months prior. Native Americans have been celebrating this event for centuries. Over time, American farmers incorporated the celestial oddity into their cultures as well.

The Lunar Eclipse.  Lunar eclipses are totally better than their Solar counterparts. First of all, you can look at them without wearing any unsightly eye protection. Second, Lunar Eclipses take two hours...not two minutes...to occur. So you can be late to the party and still not miss the show.

The Blood Moon.  This Sunday night, we will be treated to a Super-Moon Total Lunar Eclipse. This rare celestial event hasn't occurred in thirty years. When the Earth's shadow (umbra) combines with Rayleigh Scattering of sunlight, light beams produce a unique red hue. As they shine on the moon, a unique visual occurs, called a Blood Moon.

The Prophecy. Thirty years ago...when the last Blood Moon happened...humans did not have the Internet. Back then, if a non-denominational pastor from Texas spouted a bunch of nonsense about THE END OF THE WORLD, no one would listen. But since we do have the Internet today, we give this guy a lot more credence than he deserves. John Hagee cites Joel 2:31. "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day the Lord comes." The preacher is convinced this ancient passage is a direct reference to Sunday's eclipse.

The Mormon Response. Never ones to miss out on a Doomsday Theory, a prominent Mormon author has also issued numerous warnings about Sunday's eclipse. Julie Rowe has written books warning followers to take heed of the harmful Blood Moon. She may be right. When flash floods killed 16 women and children over the weekend in Utah...a tragedy she predicted...many folks in Salt Lake are buying up emergency supplies for Sunday night.

The Evidence. Hagee, Rowe and other so-called prophets have piled up an impressive list of natural disasters in the last week to prove their doomsday predictions are real. In addition to the flooding in Utah, there was a massive earthquake in Chile and inexplicable cloud formations in Costa Rica. Throw in the drought, the massive death of Saiga antelopes and beached whales...and it does really seem like the world is ending this week.

NASA's Statement.  OK, it's time for us to leave the world of superstition and legend behind and ask the experts about Sunday's Blood Moon.  Noah Petro, a lunar scientist at NASA (with a PhD) reassures us that this is just a fun astronomical event. "The only thing that will happen on Earth during an eclipse is that people with wake up with nick pain because they spent the night looking up" Maybe there will be DUNER BLOG next week after all!