Why tonight is special: A-once-in-2,000 years event

Multiple astronomical events have lined up for you in a rare display of synchronisation tonight as a total lunar eclipse overlaps with 2010’s winter solstice. Tonight, the night of December 21 and the morning of December 22, 2010, is special. There aren’t many days like today or so say the astronomers.
 
There was perhaps one such day like today in the past 2,000 years and that was some 372 years ago.

This morning, there was the total lunar eclipse although the Dubai Astronomy Group says it wasn’t visible from here while tonight is also winter solstice, the longest night of the year (or the shortest day, whichever way you want to look at it), after which the days will begin to grow longer.

Astronomers reckon that the last time the two celestial events occurred within the same calendar day, none of us were around to witness it – it was in 1638.

Although the solstice does not always occur on the same date each year, the date in 1638 was the same as today’s: December 21.

But, call it a quirk of providence or whatever, but some of today’s kids might live long enough to witness a recurrence. The next time the winter solstice and a total lunar eclipse will occur on the same calendar day will be December 21, 2094. (yes, it’s December 21 again).

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth blocks the sun's rays from the face of the moon. The moon is then fully in the shadow cast in space by the Earth. The winter solstice, which occurs later tonight, is the time when the sun reaches its lowest point in the northern sky. That is the moment that many people consider to be the start of the winter season.

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