Winter Solstice And Lunar Eclipse Tuesday

North Americans will have the best seats in the house on Tuesday as the winter solstice and a total lunar eclipse colide for the first time in 456 years, the last time being in AD 1554.

The arrival of the winter solstice cannot be seen, but is described as the instant when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun, resulting in the shortest day of the year as well as the longest night of the year. The summer solstice happens in June when the reverse is true.

This year the winter solstice begins on Tuesday evening at 6:38 p.m. ET, which is 8:08 p.m. NT, 7:38 p.m. AT, 5:38 p.m. CT, 4:38 p.m. MT, and 3:38 p.m. PT.

NASA predicts that at 1:33 a.m. ET on Tuesday, "Earth's shadow will appear as a dark red bite at the edge of the lunar disk." After aboun an hour, the "bite" will  grow to cover the entire moon. This stage, known as "totality," will probably start at 2:41 a.m. ET and last 72 minutes.

NASA suggests the best time to view the event, will be at 3:17a.m. ET, "when the moon will be in deepest shadow, displaying the most fantastic shades of coppery red."

I might be a little groggy at work on Wednesday!

Partial Lunar Eclipse On Saturday

Discovery Channel is reporting that there will be a partial lunar eclipse on Saturday starting at at 2:23 p.m. EDT and best viewed from most of Africa, Eastern Europe, central Asia, India and the Middle East. With maximum eclipse occurring at 5:10 p.m. and the whole thing over at 7:59 p.m. those of us in North Americas will be largely out of luck.

Lunar Eclipse Tonight

NASA's website has details of a total lunar eclipse that will take place this evening and which will be the last one until December of 2010. For those wondering what all of the fuss is about, NASA says "A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth lines up directly between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow over the moon's surface. The February 20, 2008 eclipse will last for nearly 3 and a half hours. For a full 50 minutes of that time the moon will be in totality - the period when the lunar surface is completely covered by the Earth's shadow. During an eclipse the moon changes color, going from a light gray color to an orange or deep red shade. This is totality. The moon takes on this new color because indirect sunlight is still able to pass through the Earth's atmosphere and cast a glow on the moon." For those of us in Canada, the partial eclipse will begin at 9:43 p.m. AT (10:13 NT, 8:43 ET, 7:43 CT, 6:43 MT and 5:43 PT) with the total eclipse beginning an hour and 18 minutes later. Residents of the Americas, Europe and Africa will have the best view according to NASA.

Lunar eclipse tomorrow morning

Here's some big news for those of us who like to gaze skyward! A total lunar eclipse will be taking place tomorrow morning and will be viewable to those in North and South America, eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It's the second such occurrence of the year, the first being 5 months ago and more prominent on the east coast of the continent. According to the CBC, "The partial eclipse will begin at 1:51 a.m. PT and end at 5:24 a.m. PT, with the total eclipse beginning at 2:52 a.m. and ending at 4:22 a.m. Skywatchers in the eastern time zone will only have a brief opportunity to see the total eclipse — which begins at 5:52 a.m. ET..."