In case you missed it there was a lunar eclipse the other night. It occurred from 5:27 to 11:06 UTC on December 21. This coincided with the winter solstice, which occurs when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26′. The eclipse was visible as a total lunar eclipse in North and South America, Iceland and across northern Scandinavia.

I had the opportunity to view the eclipse from Hutchinson, south central Kansas. There was quite a bit of haze and light pollution here in town but I could see it well enough. It wasn’t clear enough for pictures though. I borrowed the one below from Greg Cantrell’s blog (thanks Greg!)
This eclipse was the second of two lunar eclipses in 2010, but the first total lunar eclipse in almost three years. The last total lunar eclipse was in February, 2008. The first lunar eclipse this year was a partial eclipse on June 26.

This eclipse was the first total lunar eclipse to occur on the Northern Winter Solstice, and Southern Summer Solstice, since 1638. It is only the second of these to occur in the Common Era.

There will be two lunar eclipses next year. Both will also be total eclipses and they will occur on June 15, 2011, and December 10, 2011.

[Photo courtesy of Greg's World, Copyright © 2010 by Gregory Cantrell. Used with permission. Shadow chart courtesy of Wikipedia, The Online Encyclopedia.]

…and keep an eye on what China is going to do in the coming months!