[SatNews] NASA has a site set up for a most unusual happening, on December 21st, the first day of northern winter, when the full Moon passes almost dead-center through Earth's shadow, there will be a total lunar eclipse.

The entire process will take 72 minutes of "eerie totality, an amber light will play across the snows of North America, throwing landscapes into an unusual state of ruddy shadow."

The eclipse begins on Tuesday morning, December 21st, at 1:33 am EST (Monday, Dec. 20th, at 10:33 pm PST). When viewd the Earth's shadow will appear as a dark-red bite at the edge of the lunar disk. It takes about an hour for the "bite" to expand and swallow the entire Moon. The absolute best time, if you are in a frigid zone and want to limit your frostbite, will be 03:17 am EST (17 minutes past midnight PST). That's when the Moon will be in deepest shadow, displaying the most fantastic shades of coppery red.

Of course, the fact that the lunar eclipse transpires on the northern winter solstice makes it a unique experience, for sure. While total lunar eclipses in northern winter are rather common, the eclipse on the date of the solstice — not so common, in fact the only one other instance is listed as 1638. But, no worries if you sleep through this in your warm winter cap with visions of sugar plums, the next one is... December 21, 2094, 372 years from now...Coffee anyone?

Learn more at NASA's site dedicated to this phenom at.