Not only is tomorrow the official Winter Solstice, and the shortest day of the year, it will also be the date when something spectacular will happen. During the overnight hours on December 20 and December 21, parts of four continents will be able to witness a total lunar eclipse!
UPDATE: Watch video of the eclipse here
You won’t get a chance to see something like this again until 2014, so be sure not to miss it. This will also be the first total lunar eclipse since 2008 and the first solstice eclipse in 456 years.
You’ll have to be a bit of a night owl in order to catch it, though. For the Western Hemisphere, the eclipse will “officially” begin on December 21 at 12:29 a.m. EST (9:29 p.m. PST on December 20) as the moon begins to enter Earth’s penumbral, shadow. The period of totality will begin at 2:40 a.m. EST and end at 3:54 a.m.
At 3:14 a.m., in mid-eclipse, the moon will be full (a moon known to some as the Long Night Moon).
About 15 hours later, at 6:42 p.m. EST, we’ll be marking the winter solstice, and the official start of winter.
Should make for a nice one-two punch to being the winter season, don’t you think?
Related articles
- A total lunar eclipse and winter solstice coincide on Dec. 21 (yubanet.com)
- Winter Solstice and Lunar Eclipse (neatorama.com)
- Solstice Eclipse, First In 456 Years, Could Be A Bad Omen (huffingtonpost.com)
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