The eclipse is coming! If you live in North America, don't mind staying up past your bedtime, and have obligingly clear skies, tonight is your chance to see a total lunar eclipse--your last chance, unless you are up for some serious globetrotting, until April 2014. The moon will start passing behind Earth's shadow, or penumbra, at 1:33 am EST, and will be totally in shadow at 2:41 am EST.
The expert stargazers at Sky and Telescope have full pre-game (pre-eclipse?) coverage here, and NASA will be hosting a live web chat with experts from Marshall Space Flight Center until 5:00 am EST.
More evidence that this is the most social-media-savvy eclipse ever: Astrophotographers can post their photos to NASA's lunar eclipse flickr group, the forgetful can sign up for text-message reminders via the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's "I'm There" campaign, and Twitterers will be tagging their loony (get it?) tweets with #eclipse
Just be sure to lift your eyes from your smart phone long enough to actually see the eclipse!
December 20, 2010 10:09 PM
We had no hope in Western Pennsylvania due to expected cloud cover...Just now the sky cleared. We are hoping it remains clear until 3:30 at least.
December 21, 2010 11:21 AM
I LIVE IN LODI CA. IT WAS AN AWESOME THING TO SEE. MY HUSBAND AND SON WERE ALSO IN AWE. VERY SPECIAL.
December 21, 2010 12:11 PM
i seen it las night it started bout 11 my time i live in fernley nv
December 21, 2010 10:58 PM
I live in Kansas. I saw it after 2:00 am when it was orange but changed colors, lighter orange and a creamy color and go bk to a darker orange. I didn't know that my daughter,her husband and at least one gr-child of 7 yrs. also were watching from Great Britain. Daddy is stationed there. So glad I got up to see it!