OntheWilderSide

Update after the height of eclipse: Some photos at Flickr: here.

Have you been feeling wound up, extra energy, the feeling that something magical is in the air? I have. And, I learned from some friends who celebrate Solstice that not only is the energizing, renewing, astronomical and astrological event of Solstice happening on December 21, 2010, there will also be a full lunar eclipse with the Solstice.

Here are some facts and news items about what some folks are calling the Christmas lunar eclipse:Scientific details and schedule at NASA: here

NY metro area times for eclipse at the NY Post:

…Beginning at around 1:15 Tuesday morning — and reaching totality at 2:41 a.m. — the full moon will slip away from the Big Apple sky, turning a reddish brown as it finds cover in Earth’s shadow.

Weather permitting, stargazers in North and Central America and a sliver of South America will have the best seats to this year’s only total lunar eclipse.
AP

Since the eclipse coincides with the winter solstice, the moon will appear high in the sky — making for easy viewing…

–
An article from The Patch from some distant city:

Christmas Lunar Eclipse Tonight

Show in the sky to last three hours and 28 minutes.
By Angela Hart

They’ll be a show in the sky tonight.

This year’s total lunar eclipse is also called the Christmas lunar eclipse, as it happens a few days before Christmas.  It is expected to last three hours and 28 minutes tonight.

Although this is the second lunar eclipse of 2010, it is the first total lunar eclipse since Feb. 20, 2008. And, astonishingly, the last total lunar eclipse that occurred simultaneously with Winter Solstice, as it is tonight, last happened in the year 1638. [Or, in 372 years, or, as an Irish website noted, the last Solstice lunar eclipse since the Tudor’s were in power in England.]…

Some friends from Long Island Reclaiming said this was a good video to explain the eclipse:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFv16ah2szM]

Posted under youtube – Disclaimer: In the film, I mention that there have no been no other lunar eclipse during the 36 year window while the Sun is at the Galactic Centre (1980 – 2016). To correct that slightly, there was a partial lunar eclipse on the winter solstice of 1992. The one we experience this year is a total lunar eclipse.

Filed under: local, long island, new york, News Tagged: | astrology, astronomical events, astronomy, Christmas eclipse, Long Island events, Long Island Solstice, Long Island weather, lunar eclipse, NYC, NYC metro, Solstice, Solstice lunar eclipse