Lunar Eclipse

Do not forget about this evening's Lunar Eclipse. It could be another excuse to toast and tote on a Wednesday night. The next Lunar eclipse will not be until 2010 or year two of the Barack Obama presidency.

The peak time to see the total lunar eclipse will be at 10:26 p.m. EST

When to watch for the Lunar Eclipse

Eclipses occur only at full moon when the sun, Earth and moon are in a perfect line. Because the moon's orbit around Earth is not perfectly aligned with the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun, eclipses do not occur at every full moon.

The moon will enter Earth's umbral shadow (the full shadow) at 8:43 p.m. ET (that's 7:43 p.m. Central, 6:43 p.m. Mountain and 5:43 p.m. Pacific) on Wednesday, Feb. 20. It will appear as though an ever-larger bite is being taken out of the moon.

Some 78 minutes later, the moon will slip into full eclipse. About 51 minutes later, a bright scallop will appear as the moon starts emerging. It will be completely out of the umbral shadow at 9:09 p.m. Pacific time, which is 12:09 a.m. ET on Thursday morning.

More Info on the Lunar Eclipse