A Mad, Mad World

The longest night, or “Winter Solstice” in the northern hemisphere is tonight, December 20, 2010. And this year’s solstice coincides with a total lunar eclipse — a celestial coincidence that hasn’t occurred since the year 1554!

The spectacle starts on the west coast 10:32 PM Pacific Standard Time. The totality will be at 11:40 or so.

I am hoping for clear skies to enjoy this.

Useful information:
Spacedex
Spacedex California location details
Live stream from the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg, Germany
Excellent explanation of lunar eclipses

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from the American Museum of Natural History

The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.

* from our song “Navigate” on Skull & Magpies
Take a clue from those seafarers
They know how to set a course
To see where you are
take a look at the stars
and count those log line knots

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