Full moon in a rush of storm clouds. A temperature drop, with racing winds and heavy downpours, marks a change in the weather pattern. Early morning on 8 October there’s the second of four total lunar eclipses in a row, known as a lunar tetrad. Not visible from Europe. A total lunar eclipse is referred to as a ‘blood moon’, because of the moon’s rusty red appearance at totality.

Spaced out at intervals of six lunar months, the total lunar eclipses have no partial eclipses in between. The previous blood moon was 14-15 April 2014, next is 4 April 2015, then 28 September 2015. Previously, a lunar eclipse tetrad occurred from 2003 to 2004. The next one will be 2032 to 2033.