Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Gemini Full Moon Lunar Eclipse: 30* Gemini/Sagittarius


This week’s Winter Solstice lunar eclipse relates back to the summer eclipse on June 26, 2010, bringing the energies of the Cardinal Grand Cross into play again.  Although Saturn has moved to the middle degrees of Libra, and Uranus/Jupiter are about to have their 3rd conjunction in the last degrees of Pisces, the energies are resonated again because of Pluto and the North Node being so close to the Solstice points of 0*Cancer/Capricorn.  See where these points lie in your chart to discover what aspects of your life will drive the change that is happening.
This eclipse also echoes the December 1991 eclipse.  Can you remember what you were doing 19 years ago?   

The December 20/21 event is the first total lunar eclipse in three years. There will be two more in 2011.

In the Americas, where the eclipse is visible, it happens overnight December 20-21. Here's the timing:

Partial eclipse begins 9:27pm Pacific December 20
Total eclipse begins 11:40 pm Pacific December 20
Mid-eclipse 12:17 am Pacific December 21
Total eclipse ends 12:53 am Pacific December 21
Partial eclipse ends 3:06 am Pacific December 21

As the Moon appears to darken, it will actually turn a deep shade of red. The entire event lasts three-and-a-half hours. Within that, the period of totality is 72 minutes. If you live in North, South or Central America and have a clear sky, you can watch from beginning to end.



Visibility Lunar Eclipse 2010-12-21.png
Times of over North America
Event PST
(-8 UTC)
MST
(-7 UTC)
CST
(-6 UTC)
EST
(-5 UTC)
Start penumbral (P1) 9:27 pm (*) 10:27 pm (*) 11:27 pm (*) 12:27 am
Start umbral (U1) 10:32 pm (*) 11:32 pm (*) 12:32 am 1:32 am
Start total (U2) 11:40 pm (*) 12:40 am 1:40 am 2:40 am
Greatest eclipse 12:17 am 1:17 am 2:17 am 3:17 am
End total (U3) 12:53 am 1:53 am 2:53 am 3:53 am
End umbra (U4) 2:02 am 3:02 am 4:02 am 5:02 am
End penumbral (P4) 3:06 am 4:06 am 5:06 am 6:06 am
(*) before midnight on Monday night, December 20

Lunar eclipse from moon-10dec21.png
These simulated views of the earth from the center of the moon during the lunar eclipse show where the eclipse is visible on earth.

Lunar eclipse chart close-10dec21.png
The moon passes right to left through the earth's northern shadow
Gamma[1] 0.3213
Duration (hr:mn:sc)
Totality 1:13:12
Partial 3:29:22
Penumbral 5:38:22
Contacts
P1 05:27:43 UTC
U1 06:32:17 UTC
U2 07:40:21 UTC
Greatest 08:16:56 UTC
U3 08:53:34 UTC
U4 10:01:39 UTC
P4 11:06:04 UTC
Lunar eclipse chart-10dec21.png
At descending node in Taurus

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