Sunset on the Eve of Winter Solistice
Lunar eclipse tonight! Beginning at 12:33am (CST). Totality commences at 1:41am and lasts for 72 minutes. It takes 3 hours & 28 minutes to pass completely through the umbra. If you're planning only one quick look try to make 2:17am when the moon will be in deepest shadow and should be a fantastic shade of coppery red.
AND, this particular lunar eclipse just happens to fall on the date of the northern winter solstice. A rare occurrence! According to the Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory, "Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is 1638 Dec 21. Fortunately, we won't have to wait 372 years for the next one… that one will be on 2094 Dec 21."
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