http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essential ... r-20-or-21

It’s almost eclipse time! A total lunar eclipse will take place tonight for us in the Americas, islands of the Pacific, Greenland, northwestern Europe and northwestern Africa. If you are west of the International Date Line, your calendar says December 21 today, but this eclipse still might be visible for you. For more about specific times and time zones, click here.

A total lunar eclipse takes place whenever the moon passes right through the Earth’s dark umbral shadow. This can only happen at full moon, which is when the moon has swung directly opposite the sun in our sky, and when the fully illuminated hemisphere of the moon (day side) shines brightly in our night sky. There is a full moon every month. But – several times each year – the Earth, sun and moon line up exactly. Then the body of the moon may pass in front of the sun, creating a solar eclipse. Or – as on the night of December 20/21 – the Earth passes in front of the sun as seen from the moon. At such times, Earth’s shadow falls on the moon’s face.

As this eclipse day has approached, a number of publications have reported that the last time that the total lunar eclipse coincided with the (northern hemisphere’s) winter solstice was 456 years ago, in 1554. See the sample story here. EarthSky readers will know, however, that this date is incorrect. In 1554, both lunar eclipses were partial. What’s more, the lunar eclipse fell on Dec. 9, 1554, whereas the December solstice fell on Dec. 12, 1554 (Julian calendar). I’m not sure when the last solstice eclipse was. Anyone know? But it wasn’t 1554.

Tonight’s eclipse is special for falling close to the December solstice. It is the northernmost total lunar eclipse until December 21, 2485.

During the December 20/21 total lunar eclipse, the moon will be totally immersed in Earth’s shadow for 72 minutes. A partial eclipse lasting for nearly the same period of time will precede and follow the total eclipse. No special equipment needed to watch this solstice eclipse, although binoculars or a telescope will enhance the view. Just wrap up warmly and enjoy.

Jane Houston Jones at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory explains more about lunar eclipses.

nevermind what the rope is for.

got a bonfire built and a bottle of mead

All cloud-cover weather eclipse fail here.

ECLIPSE FAIL

Yeah we have a 1/2 foot of snow coming so no sky for us. I did see two meteors the other night so I feel okay.

I will watch the Lunar Eclipse on my iPad instead. Good enough or better.

The eclipse will last a little over 72 minutes and the moon will be a coppery red. It really sounds like a great event. It starts at approximately 2:40 a.m. EST or 11:40 p.m. PST.

I read somewhere the moon will be the farthest from earth since the 400's A.D. oMg

Rain here, too.... bummah. The bridge out of our canyon has water flowing over it right now - could be here awhile.

Can confirm that the view in the Orkney Islands is fan fucking tastic!

You need to be here -

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=orkney&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

You can watch it live here. It's very very exciting.
http://www.wpbt2.org/stargazer/

It's hazy here but it's visible and we're watching it! Neighbors are out gawking and it's kinda a cheery event.

oh shit, wait, Dooooooom. The moon disappeared! Guess some clouds came by.

The clouds cleared for a sec and we could see the actual moon, yeah!

I just went out with the kids (Jack has friends over) and we saw the cloudy moon and the eclipsing but then it went cloudy and didn't see any orange or red. Bummer.

Bridget, there's still more time to let the clouds pass as the thing is going until 1-ish? Anyway, I'm checking every 10 minutes over here - you can bank on that! heh

deleted photo link down

Drove out to the beach with my lady, some chairs, a tiki torch and cooler of Dos Equis. Some fast moving clouds around the peak, but mainly clear viewing all night.


Fuck television, the night sky shits all over your regularly scheduled programming!

I went out late around 3 am and it was pretty amazing. Moon was a coppery red and you could see the shadow of earth creeping across the face. Doom.

Hippies!

I was going out every 10 mins or so to see if I could see anything and had no luck. I had to sleep eventually. Oh well.

that's very nice. what are you going to do about it?