by lunar eclipse at winter solstice
Photograph by Heribert Proepper, AP
Tonight or actually in the wee hours of tomorrow morning, if you are lucky with the weather and live in the northern hemisphere, you can celebrate the Winter Solstice in grand fashion with a full lunar eclipse occurring at the same time, a most rare event. We will not be one of the lucky ones as it is cloudy here. If it had only been last night when it was clear.
I enjoyed these links about this unusual cosmic event:
-at CBC News
-at Quirks and Quarks, including this video
-at National Geographic (source of the image above)
– Spacedex has information on viewing times and places, here it is for BC
– and finally, this wonderful post on Winter Solstice in Newgrange.
I wonder if wintry Stonehenge will be busy this year, especially at this unusually mystical and magical, and hopefully, auspicious time.
So, Happy Solstice and Happy Lunar Eclipse. Onward to lighter days ahead!
December 20, 2010 in Current Events, Folk Legends & Myths, Neat stuff by Marja-Leena
We have thick cloud cover, too. It’s a disappointment.
Here’s a live feed with a nice quality shot:
http://www.wpbt2.org/stargazer/
Hi Marja-Leena
Low cloud here, so we didn’t get to see the Lunar Eclipse… I’m dissapointed,I won’t be here for the next one.
Happy Solstice, Marja-Leena, and happy holidays, too. Bring on the light!
Raining in Halifax last night but I’ve been lucky enough to have seen 2 total eclipses that I remember. The first was in Vancouver May 1975 and the second in Portland January 2000 so I won’t complain.
Happy Return of the Light.
Hattie, you too, that’s too bad.
R, I think I got up too late to see it live. I’ve seen various sites today with good photos though of course it’s not the same as the real thing.
Julie, it’s a real disappointment indeed, and I”m not going to be here for the next solstice eclipse either.
Leslee, thank you and the same to you!
Susan, good that you’ve seen it twice. I remember one we saw here some years ago. It was in the evening when our youngest daughter spotted this orangey sliver in the sky soon after moon rise. Then we saw a red ring around a dark globe. It was magical and mysterious, especially since we’d not heard anything in the media about a lunar eclipse to come. Thanks, for the wishes, it will be great to see the days lengthening again.
Somehow I was right out of the loop that day and didn’t hear anything about it, and we had a beautiful clear night and such bright moonlight. Too bad, we’ll all miss the next one!
Lucy, oh that’s too bad, especially since you had such a clear night!
Happy solstice and return of the light!
Lovely picture!
I recall my daughter, aged 16, telling me that there would be a lunar eclipse when the sun passed between the earth and the moon. I was rather concerned for a while!