winter solstice + lunar eclipse

= once in several lifetimes!

Wow, I just happened to read a few hours ago that there will be a lunar eclipse. I tried to get some shut-eye for a few hours beforehand, but was apparently too excited, waking up after only 30 minutes.

I should have been excited! 

Apparently, the last time 

a lunar eclipse occurred on the winter solstice 

was Dec. 21, 1638,
(456 years ago)

and it will not occur again until 2094. 

Makes me want to go to Stonehenge,

minus all of the crystal carrying crazies.

via{musicmnp}

I just went outside to look, having read that it starts at 1:33 am. Standing still for more than 5 minutes in Cleveland becomes quickly unpleasant. Watching the thin veil of clouds cross the such a beautiful glowing surface, in an atmosphere is eerie light quickly raises my level of consciousness.

via {space}

via {our universe}

Apparently the best viewing time will be at 3:17 am EST. Bummer, guess I have to wait a few hours. Nothing new for an insomniac like me...

In the meantime, here is how NASA describes what it should be like, according to the Atlantic:

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.

And dang it, Cleveland, you really suck sometimes. By 3:17, it was a total blanket of clouds. 
The last glimpse I got was at 2:45, where the moon had completed its entry into the umbra, 
and that was faint at best. 


Damn you, Unicloud!
I really get irritated with you for so many reasons.


Instead, here is a picture from some previous eclipse somewhere else.

via {the fader}