For the first time in 372 years, the Winter Solstice, a full moon and a total lunar eclipse will occur together on Dec. 21st. In addition, the Ursid meteor shower, normally unremarkable, could put on a bit of a show while the eclipse darkens the night sky.
Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory inspected a list of eclipses going back 2000 years for NASA. ”Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is Dec 21, 1638. The next one will be on Dec 21, 2094.”
“It’s perfectly placed so that all of North America can see it,” said eclipse expert Fred Espenak of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The entire show, which is expected to last 3 1/2 hours if skies are clear, begins at 11:41 p.m. PST Monday.
(Source: NPR, via angelonmyyshoulder)
