This tripod like piece of equipment is actually the gnomon, one of the Apollo lunar geology hand tools, and photometric chart assembly used as a photographic reference to establish local vertical Sun angle, scale and lunar color. This picture is from the area at Station 4 (Shorty Crater) where the now famous orange soil was found by Apollo 17 crewmen Moon. This was during the second Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-2) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. What look like astronaut footsteps are visible in the lower left portion of this picture from the moon.

While many of Earth were gazing up on October 8, 2014 to catch the total lunar eclipse, NASA’s Messenger space probe was also watching. It used the on-board narrow angle camera – from its far away station, in orbit of the planet Mercury to capture the eclipse. The picture of the left shows the normal view of the Earth and Moon from Mercury (two very bright points in space about 107 million kilometers away). During the lunar eclipse, the Moon disappears from view on Mercury as it makes its passage through the Earth’s shadow (as seen on the right).

NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) included two lunar probes (Ebb and Flow) that orbited the Moon’s poles to collect data on its gravity field. This topographical view uses data collected by the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and shows the gravitational anomalies bordering the Procellarum region (in blue).  Scientists interpret these anomalies in lunar gravity as likely resulting from ancient lava-flooded rift zones buried beneath volcanic plains on the Moon.

It looked like a spotlight shining down on us from the night sky. Over this past weekend, the moon was closest to the Earth and visibly brighter and larger when viewed through the naked eye. This picture was taken in the city of Toronto and even though there are many better pictures of the supermoon from this past weekend, it does show the full moon. A telephoto lens was definitely called for!

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) looked back and took this picture of the Earth and Moon from Mars, using its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. Taken from approximately 142 million miles (88 million km) away, one can barely make out the west coast of South America in the lower right hand portion of the partial Earth image.

Kepler crater on the moon is approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) in diameter located at the lunar bearing 8.1°N, 322.0°E. It is named after the prolific German astronomer Johannes Kepler, famous for his three laws of planetary motion. This picture, taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), also shows a boulder that was ejected out onto its continuous ejecta blanket by the energy of this impact.

From an astronomical perspective, almost any total lunar eclipse could be called a blood moon as the moon does tend to turn a coppery-red colour. Historically, full moons of every month have been given names and the full moon in October was called the “Harvest Moon” or “Blood Moon” or “Sanguine Moon”.

The Biblical aspect of the phrase blood moon comes from end of times prophecy where the moon is supposed to turn blood red. As stated in Joel 2:31 –

“The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”

The recent intrigue surrounding blood moons also comes from the fact that over 2014-2015, we will be seeing four total lunar eclipses in a row without any partial eclipses in between which, will be separated by six full moons. This lunar tetrad, is quite rare with only eight that will occur this century and the ones in 2014-2015 will happen to fall  on the Jewish feasts of Passover and Tabernacles – an even rarer phenomenon, having only occurred seven times before.

The last three of these lunar tetrads falling on the Jewish feasts of Passover and Tabernacles ocurred in 1493-94, 1949-50 and 1967-68 and after the lunar tetrad of 2014-15, none are expected for the next five centuries.

In conclusion, every total lunar eclipse could be called a blood moon as the moon tends to turn red in colour. From a historic astronomical perspective, the full moon following the “Harvest Moon” was called the “Hunter’s Moon” or “Blood Moon”.  In Biblical prophecy circles, the upcoming tetrad of lunar eclipses (2014-2015) are also being referred to as blood moons. As it can be seen, this (over) use of the term in multiple contexts can lead to confusion, if not worse outcomes.

An Apollo 17 mission astronaut took this picture of the moon’s surface showing the barren lunar landscape with numerous craters, mountains and other geographical features.

Apollo 17 was the last mission in NASA’s historic Apollo lunar landing program.  The crew consisted of Commander Eugene Cernan, Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt; while the Command Module (CSM) was piloted by Ronald Evans. Apollo 17 was the sixth landing of American astronauts on the Moon; a feat that has not been repeated since.

Apollo 16 mission’s picture of the video camera on the moon, taken from the Lunar Module “Orion” by astronauts. Apollo 16 was the tenth NASA mission to the Moon and the fifth (and last) to land a manned module on the Moon.  Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke spent just under three days on the Moon in the lander while Ken Mattingly piloted the “Casper” Command/Service Module.

Apollo 11’s Lunar Module / Lunar Excursion Module, about to end its mission on the Moon. The lander is seen here  leaving the Moon’s surface to dock with the Command/Service Module (CSM). In the background is a picturesque “Earthrise” picture taken by astronaut Michael Collins in the Apollo CSM.

The historic Apollo 11 mission landed the first humans on the Moon – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – on July 20, 1969. Armstrong of course became the first human to walk on the Moon.  Him and Aldrin spent just over 21 hours on the moon in the lunar module while Michael Collins, the third member of the Apollo 11 mission, piloted the command spacecraft.