--- title: Total Lunar Eclipse: Why Is the Blood Moon Red? description: TIME's Jeffrey Kluger explains what makes the Blood Moon lunar eclipse red canonical: https://time.com/62125/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-cosmic-jaguar/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-14T20:25:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:18:02.450Z article:section: Science og:title: Total Lunar Eclipse: Why Is the Blood Moon Red? og:description: TIME's Jeffrey Kluger explains what makes the Blood Moon lunar eclipse red og:url: https://time.com/62125/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-cosmic-jaguar/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfca053a8e8b1e92d/69868aafe53ababc294d20d0/72560509.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Last Lunar Eclipse Until 2007 Reveals "Blood Moon" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Total Lunar Eclipse: Why Is the Blood Moon Red? twitter:description: TIME's Jeffrey Kluger explains what makes the Blood Moon lunar eclipse red twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfca053a8e8b1e92d/69868aafe53ababc294d20d0/72560509.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Do Blood Moons Occur? by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Apr 14, 2014 8:25 PM UTC  The moon is seen during a lunar eclipse on October 27, 2004 over a Manhattan skyscraper in New York City. The moon is seen during a lunar eclipse on October 27, 2004 over a Manhattan skyscraper in New York City.Chris Hondros—Getty Images by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Apr 14, 2014 8:25 PM UTC Millions of people will witness this year’s first Blood Moon, a.k.a. total lunar eclipse. Our ancestors had many prophecies surrounding such events. The Maya, for instance, believed that the Blood Moon was caused by a cosmic jaguar swallowing the moon. Others have seen it as a sign the end times are near. Thankfully, science offers its own explanation for the celestial phenomenon. The excitement this time is that the four consecutive and complete lunar eclipses — or the tetrad — occur at approximately six-month intervals and will all be visible over the U.S. this year and next. TIME’s science editor Jeffrey Kluger explains. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/62125/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-cosmic-jaguar/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/62125/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-cosmic-jaguar/"},"headline":"Why Do Blood Moons Occur?","datePublished":"2014-04-14T20:25:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:18:02.450Z","description":"Look up into the sky at 3:07 a.m. E.T. on Tuesday, and you'll witness one of four consecutive and complete lunar eclipses we'll see this year and next","url":"https://time.com/62125/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-cosmic-jaguar/","keywords":["astronomy","moon","Science topic","Eclipse","blood"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfca053a8e8b1e92d/69868aafe53ababc294d20d0/72560509.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfca053a8e8b1e92d/69868aafe53ababc294d20d0/72560509.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Last Lunar Eclipse Until 2007 Reveals \"Blood Moon\"","caption":"Last Lunar Eclipse Until 2007 Reveals \"Blood Moon\"","creditText":"Chris Hondros—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/astronomy/","name":"astronomy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/62125/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-cosmic-jaguar/","name":"Why Do Blood Moons Occur?"}}]}] ```