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Moonwatchers Treated to Total Lunar Eclipse ‎

Star gazers were treated to a rare phenomenon last night, a total lunar eclipse which coincided with this year’s winter solstice, and is an event which took place for the first time in some 400 years!

According to NASA the last time these astronomical events took place in sync was on Dec. 21, 1638, and it won’t happen again until at least 2094.

For Crown Heightsers the cosmic event began at approximately 2:00am, and the total eclipse took place at around 3:40am.

The full moon was darkened by Earth’s shadow as our planet passed between it and the sun. December 21 is also the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, after which the days will begin to grow longer. Coupled with the lunar spectacle, the night turned especially dark.

Our talented photographer watched and captured the event for the enjoyment of our loyal readers!

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21 Comments

  • tipshim

    While you people are watching the moon, our neighborhood is being devastated. Next time watch the sun better.

  • Neutralized

    Very interesting. On the one hand I’ve heard a lunar eclipse is a bad sign for the Jewish People who are compared to the moon. However, it seems neutralized by the winter solstice, when the sun is at its weakest point, which is a bad sign for the Nations of the World.

  • lunatics

    My son and I woke up at 1am and stayed up until 2:45 and watched the moon become eclipsed which was quite a spectacle but we didn’t see the reddening – did anyone else in Crown Heights?

  • very interesting sicha of the Rebbe

    about eclipses:
    I found this link about the Rebbe’s sicha online when I was looking for the sicha…

    http://shiratdevorah.blogsp…

    It is amazing how the Rebbe always teaches us to think positive and be proactive

    MOSHIACH NOW!!!!

  • joe

    Thanks for the sicha and yes i concur with your statement regarding the Rebbe’s positive approach.

  • yukel

    as far as Judaism is concerned, our planet did not “pass between the sun and moon” it was more like the sun moving in a position where it got blocked by our planet… our planet does not move….!!!

  • Oseh Maase Bereishit

    What a neat sight!!! I watched it from my window. Should I have said Shehechiyanu? At that hour I couldn’t ask anyone and I had no idea it was such a rare thing! Thanks for the great pics. It feels good to say “look! I saw that ”

  • Milhouse

    #15, Wrong.

    #1, The next total lunar eclipse will be in six months, but it won’t be visible from New York. The next total lunar eclipse visible from New York is probably the one in April 2014; if not, then definitely the one in October 2014.

  • moonlight

    the times in the article seem off. at around 1:30 am I saw the moon almost halfway covered. and the total eclipse was around 2:45. I’m not sure how long it lasted tho. it was awesome, definitely. the constellations were very visible too. I did see the reddening.