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.
Blood moons have historic, religious (Christian and Jewish) and astronomical significance.
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.
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 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.
