How often do you get to witness an event that has not been seen since the year 1378, over half a millennium, 632 years ago? Of course, weather will make or break the viewing, and it appears the much of the west coast of the USA will be socked in with a significant winter storm at that time.
Here’s the USA forecast for cloud cover. Blue is clearest, gray is cloud cover.
For those that can see it, the moon will likely appear as a deep coppery red, like this 2003 eclipse photo at left.
From Science @ NASA, they write: Everyone knows that “the moon on the breast of new-fallen snow gives the luster of mid-day to objects below.” That is, except during a lunar eclipse.
See for yourself on Dec. 21st, the first day of northern winter, when the full Moon passes almost dead-center through Earth’s shadow. For 72 minutes of eerie totality, an amber light will play across the snows of North America, throwing landscapes into an unusual state of ruddy shadow.
The eclipse begins on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st, at 1:33 am EST (Monday, Dec. 20th, at 10:33 pm PST). At that time, Earth’s shadow will appear as a dark-red bite at the edge of the lunar disk. It takes about an hour for the “bite” to expand and swallow the entire Moon. Totality commences at 02:41 am EST (11:41 pm PST) and lasts for 72 minutes.
If you’re planning to dash out for only one quick look - it is December, after all - choose this moment: 03:17 am EST (17 minutes past midnight PST). That’s when the Moon will be in deepest shadow, displaying the most fantastic shades of coppery red.
Why red?
A quick trip to the Moon provides the answer: Imagine yourself standing on a dusty lunar plain looking up at the sky. Overhead hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the sun behind it. The eclipse is underway. You might expect Earth seen in this way to be utterly dark, but it’s not. The rim of the planet is on fire! As you scan your eye around Earth’s circumference, you’re seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all of them, all at once. This incredible light beams into the heart of Earth’s shadow, filling it with a coppery glow and transforming the Moon into a great red orb.
Back on Earth, the shadowed Moon paints newly fallen snow with unfamiliar colors–not much luster, but lots of beauty.
This lunar eclipse falls on the date of the northern winter solstice. How rare is that? Total lunar eclipses in northern winter are fairly common. There have been three of them in the past ten years alone. A lunar eclipse smack-dab on the date of the solstice, however, is unusual. Using NASA’s 5000 year catalog of lunar eclipses and JPL’s HORIZONS ephemeris to match eclipses and solstices, author Dr. Tony Phillips had to go back to the year 1378 to find a similar “winter solstice lunar eclipse.”
Author: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
h/t to WUWT reader “Ray”
Maybe I missed it above somewhere, but the write up of this event at Spaceweather.com provides an interesting, albeit roundabout, linkage to current climactic conditions, in the form of an explanation for 0.02 degrees of the current “observed” warming. Hmm, that warming must all be in the SH? I haven’t observed it here at 41N for quite some time.
Yes, I saw it too late, that should be 0.2 degrees.
1378 Dec 04 (or 05) is incorrect. The correct date for the last eclipse and solstice to coincide is 1638 December 21, as reported elsewhere.
The person who calculated this using the NASA Horizons ephemeris calculator appears to have computed the solar ephemeris in RA and Decl for epoch 2000. That shows the solstice as being approx. 1378 Dec 05. But you should not use epoch 2000, rather the epoch of observation (apparent RA and Decl), which differs due to the long-term small precession of the earth’s axis. When you do this, the solstice in 1378 comes out to be December 14, not on the eclipse. 1638 does match up.
If you try to do something better than the professionals, you need to take care of all the subtleties.
Tony has done an update !
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/17dec_solsticeeclipse/
still missed the other though;
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/12/17/lunar-eclipse-and-winter-solstice-to-coincide-first-time-since-1378/#comment-553497
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A. Scientist wrote…
“If you try to do something better than the professionals, you need to take care of all the subtleties.”
Supposing that to be a conclusion derived from reading NASA tables of whatever epoch, to me, is curious logic, now that we know how progressive, modern “science” has turned out to be.
From my (A. Nother Scientist) vantage point and observation , traditional logic and modern science do not always have much in common.
My conclusions might be…
“If you try to be professional, you need to take care of all the subtleties, including the logic.” 😉
Or,
“If you’re an amateur, be wary of professionals and their prognostications. Dress warmly if it’s cold outside. Recalibrate your thermometer if it reads 3 degrees C in the ice.”
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There was a lunar eclipse in 1638 on Dec-21 or wintersolstice if memory serves me right. Peaking at 0300.
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erik…
At my age, one tends to forget things a bit. Now that I think back, it was stormy over here in Europe then. An you guys over in the preUSA had recorded your first astronomical event that year (1638) — would you believe it? – a lunar eclipse!
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Sky is pretty clear with maybe 10-20% cirrus. At less than 5 hours away it’s looking good.
Temperature at 8pm is 64F. I know, I know. Eat your hearts out. December 20th in south central Texas was a perfect summer day for people at higher latitudes.
have been watching now for 45 minutes in North Texas. It’s 2:13am and it went all orange about top of the hour. Wow… very cool. Also, believe it or not, it’s mild this morning.. in the sixties and windy.
Temperature didn’t drop all night – almost a constant 65F and very humid. Cloud cover increased to 90% by midnight and the eclipsed moon wasn’t even bright enough to locate through the cloud cover. Mebbe next time.
Andre ~ Thanks for the corrections on the ‘Little Prince’ thing… I really appreciate it.
Now………. Could you please tell me ‘in essence’ what the silly little book was ABOUT?
(I’ll just focus on that and figure out ‘Flatland’ (about 3-D +, perhaps???) later.)
Thanks again, and Merry Christmas to you.
Cynthia Thorpe