This Tuesday will be an interesting one for a couple of reasons, which, when combined, make it for a freakin' awesome astronomical day.
Reason the first: It's going to be, depending on how you like to write your date, either 21/12 or 12/21.
Reason the second: This year, the Winter Solstice falls on 21/12. It doesn't always, but it does this year.
Reason the third: There's a full moon on the night of the 20th, and therefore on the morning of the 21st.
Reason the fourth: There's a total lunar eclipse on the morning of the 21st.
That means that this year there will be a total lunar eclipse on the shortest day of the year, which will have a palindromic date.
It starts at 1:33am EST on Tuesday, totality begins at 2:41am EST, and the absolute darkest point will be about 3:17am EST.
I hope you all take a step outside early Tuesday morning to take a look at one of Nature's strange coincidences. There hasn't been a Winter Solstice total lunar eclipse in 372 years, and it was at least 1600 years before that since the one before. It's unlikely any of us will be alive the next time it happens, which will be in 2094.
By the by, to any old-school druids who happen to read this: Imagine the potency of any mistletoe harvested early Tuesday morning! Particularly if harvested by a virgin! Cut on the night of a full moon, on the day of the Winter Solstice! I have no idea whether a lunar eclipse is considered a good thing or not, but if it isn't, that just means you can harvest at midnight instead!
Source:
NASA
Do I really need a source other than NASA? I think not.
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