WASHINGTON D.C. — Conspiracy theorists and doomsday preachers are warning that the end is nigh just because the moon is turning red this week.<br /><br />NASA reports that this century's longest lunar eclipse is set to go down on July 27, and its getting some people's panties in a tizzy.<br /><br />Friday's total lunar eclipse will see the sun, Earth, and moon in perfect alignment with each other. When this happens, the moon moves directly within the Earth's umbra and turns a dark red — a rare astronomical phenomenon known as the blood moon.<br /><br />The ominous name has given rise to all manner of doomsday predictions. One YouTube preacher claims it's a sign of the second coming, while a new age earthquake researcher predicts a magnitude 7 quake could strike that day.<br /><br />Of course, neither of these claims are backed up by real science, even though both claim to be "factual". Clearly, that word doesn't mean what they think it means.<br /><br />The blood redness is really just from being hit by sunlight bent by the Earth's atmosphere. Nothing creepy or satanic about it.<br /><br />At one hour and 43 minutes, sure, it'll be the longest lunar eclipse of the 21st century so far, but that's hardly proof of imminent destruction.
