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On November 8, the Moon will become blood crimson, allegedly signaling the approach of Ragnarök, the God of War. Thankfully, a total lunar eclipse will provide the benevolent aspect rather than the end of the world as we know it. We think.
On November 9, the eagerly anticipated God of War sequel from Santa Monica Studios will be available to buy. PlayStation console users have been anticipating Ragnarök with a feverish level of anticipation due to a combination of positive reviews and an occasionally amusing marketing campaign. It now appears that this buzz will come from an entirely unexpected source: celestial mechanics.
A lunar eclipse is scheduled to occur on November 8—the night before the release of God of War Ragnarök—as noted by Twitter user @EmManuDoll and reposted in an emoji-filled Tweet from the official Santa Monica Studio account.
This seems almost too perfect to be a coincidence, especially given that the next sequel is about the events surrounding the Norse legendary end of days, one of whose heralds being the darkening of the Sun and Moon.
According to some Norse mythologies, the Sun and the Moon would be hunted down and eaten by the enormous wolves Skoll and Hati in the events preceding Ragnarök. Since it appears in the launch trailer, we can be certain that this particular aspect of the mythology will play a significant role in the game.
Of fact, a total lunar eclipse on November 8—which happens when our planet moves in front of the Moon and the Sun, blocking the Sun’s light—is what caused the Moon to turn red in the first place, not gods or monsters.
The Moon acquires a bloody tint as it enters entirely inside Earth’s umbra, often known as its shadow. This is because of a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering, in which light from our star is refracted and scattered as it travels through the thick atmosphere of our planet.
Particularly blue light, which has a shorter wavelength than other types of light, is easily scattered away, but red light, which has a longer wavelength, can more easily penetrate through the atmosphere. Because of this, sunrises and sunsets appear red to our eyes. During a lunar eclipse, a portion of this light is deflected inward, shining on the otherwise shadowed Moon and giving it a reddish hue.
Our globe would seem as a black expanse encircled by a dazzling red glow of sunrises and sunsets if you were to somehow find yourself standing on the surface of the Moon looking Earthward at this moment.
Stargazers will have to wait until the end of 2025 to view another total lunar eclipse, making this a unique chance to observe the complex celestial mechanics of our solar system in action.
On November 8, beginning at 3:09 a.m. CST, the eclipse will be visible throughout North America. Totality will happen around 4:16 a.m. CST. If you chance to be up in the early hours, make sure to take a time to glance up and enjoy the view as the cosmic coincidence will also be visible throughout the Pacific, Australia, and eastern Asia.
