For a few hours tonight, the upcoming full moon -- the first total lunar eclipse in nearly three years -- will also take place on the same date as the winter solstice (if you live north of the equator), an event that hasn't happened in almost 500 years.
So break out the flashlights. Because when a full lunar eclipse takes place on the shortest day of the year, North America may just get awfully dark.
But if the weather is clear, favorably placed skywatchers will have a view of one of nature's most beautiful spectacles.
Unlike a total eclipse of the sun, which is only visible to those in the path of totality, eclipses of the moon can usually be observed from one's own backyard. The passage of the moon through the Earth's shadow is equally visible from all places within the hemisphere where the moon is above the horizon.
The total phase of the upcoming event will be visible across all of North and South America, as well as the northern and western part of Europe, and a small part of northeast Asia, including Korea and much of Japan. Totality will also be visible in its entirety from the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii — a potential viewing audience of about 1.5 billion people.
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