Blood Moon Pictures Today: Total Lunar Eclipse and Blood Moon Photos

The moon is illuminated by sunlight reflected off the Earth during a total lunar eclipse, one of four so-called ‘blood moons’, on October 8, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. The first in the current tetrad of blood moons fell on Passover and the current eclipse occurs on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the fifth day after Yom Kippur, leading some religious people to believe that it is a prophetic sign of the end times of civilization. This blood moon appears 5.3% larger than the last one on April 15 because it occurs right after the perigee, the closest point in its orbit to the Earth. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

The last blood moon of 2014 took place on Wednesday, October 8, and lots of new pictures and photos from across the United States and other areas are up.

The blood moon is called thus because it typically appears red or orange, depending on what area a person is viewing from. 

The blood moon was the second in “an extraordinary series of lunar eclipses,” NASA noted.

The first took place in April of this year. The third is slated for April 4, 2015; and the fourth is slated for September 28, 2015.

The moon is illuminated by sunlight reflected off the Earth during a total lunar eclipse, one of four so-called 'blood moons', on October 8, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (David McNew/Getty Images)

 

A total lunar eclipse is seen behind a ferris wheel in Tokyo, on October 8, 2014. (AFP/Getty Images)

“The most unique thing about the 2014-2015 tetrad is that all of them are visible for all or parts of the USA,” said longtime NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak in a post on the agency’s website.

On October 8 the blood moon was available for about four hours starting around 3:30 a.m. EDT.

A plane flies before the moon at the beginning of a total lunar eclipse in Yokkaichi, central Japan, on October 8, 2014. In Tokyo's Roppongi fashion and entertainment district, enthusiasts were planning to perform yoga exercises under the blood moon. Many others had climbed atop the city's skyscrapers to view the sky. (AFP/Getty Images)

 

The moon is seen alongside the Sydney Opera House during a total lunar eclipse in Sydney on October 8, 2014. People witnessed the year's second total lunar eclipse, which causes a 'blood moon' and is the second of four in a rare Tetrad of eclipses over the next two years. (AFP/Getty Images)

NASA also explained why the moon turns red or orange.

“A quick trip to the Moon provides the answer: Imagine yourself standing on a dusty lunar plain looking up at the sky. Overhead hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the sun behind it. The eclipse is underway.

“You might expect Earth seen in this way to be utterly dark, but it’s not. The rim of the planet is on fire! As you scan your eye around Earth’s circumference, you’re seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all of them, all at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth’s shadow, filling it with a coppery glow and transforming the Moon into a great red orb.”

The moon appears to be to have an orange-red hue as the earth's shadow covers the moon during a total lunar eclipse, in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California October 8, 2014. (AFP/Getty Images)

 

A lunar eclipse is seen in Tokyo on October 8, 2014. (AFP/Getty Images)