September’s Supermoon Eclipse Disappoints Doomsayers
This Sunday will see the first supermoon eclipse in thirty years and people are both delighted and disappointed that it’s happening sans Armageddon.
A lunar eclipse and supermoon will be happening simultaneously, an unusual occurrence that people may not see again until 2033.
"That's rare because it's something an entire generation may not have seen," said Noah Pedro, a NASA Research Scientist, in a statement.
Lunar eclipses happen several times a year and are the result of the moon travelling through the earth’s shadow. Sunlight passes through the earth’s atmosphere, filtering out most of the colour spectrum except for oranges and reds, and paints the moon red.
This can be called a blood moon when it happens in autumn.
A supermoon is a separate occurrence and happens when the moon is orbiting closer to earth, causing it to look visibly bigger and brighter at its nearest.
While this lunar double down is considered a stargazer's dream come true for many, there are some who believe the red moon’s ascension is nothing less than a harbinger of doom.
Several Christian Pastors have built a whole belief system around the blood moon, citing these celestial events as signs of an impending apocalypse.
John Hagee, a minister of his own church, has written a book about the blood moon prophecies and states that it signifies the second coming of Christ.
Most people can rest assured that if a world-ending event like a meteorite strikes their home, it will likely be covered by a standard home insurance policy.
NASA, however, remains skeptical that it will be anything more than a celestial must-see.
"The only thing that will happen on Earth during an eclipse is that people will wake up the next morning with neck pain because they spent the night looking up," reported Pedro.
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