Happy St. John the Evangelist Day

In a few hours here in Minnesota and the Northern Latitudes we are entering the dark days of Winter. December 21st, 2010 is the day with the least amount of daylight. This day is called the Winter Solstice also known as the First Day of Winter.

For us as Free Masons the Winter Solstice is known to us as St.John the Evangelist Day. It is a day that we all celebrate world wide.

Early this morning we also are going to experience an Lunar Eclipse. A Lunar Eclipse is when the Earth passes between the Sun and Moon. When this occurs the Earths shadow covers all or part of the moon.

Tonite is going to be an extreely rare moment. For the last time the Lunar Eclipse occurred on the Winter Solstice was 12-21-1632 or 372 years ago.

Watching the eclipse is perfectly safe . You dont need any special equipment or telescopes.
Here in Minnesota Mother Nature is finishing up with another snow strom so I will not be able to view it, but I encourage you to go out and gaze to the heavens and enjoy the sights.......
and take a moment to remember all those Free Masons where so ever disbursed.

The table of information below comes from the U.S. Naval Observatory the experts in these matters. It is a time table of Lunar Eclipse.

Total Eclipse of the Moon

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
o ' o '
W093 16, N44 58

Central Standard Time

Moon's
Azimuth Altitude
h m o o
Moonrise 2010 Dec 20 16:02 54.9 ----
Moon enters penumbra 2010 Dec 20 23:27.7 157.4 67.3
Moon enters umbra 2010 Dec 21 00:32.3 195.7 67.9
Moon enters totality 2010 Dec 21 01:40.4 228.6 61.5
Middle of eclipse 2010 Dec 21 02:17.0 240.8 56.3
Moon leaves totality 2010 Dec 21 02:53.6 250.5 50.5
Moon leaves umbra 2010 Dec 21 04:01.7 264.6 39.1
Moon leaves penumbra 2010 Dec 21 05:06.1 275.5 28.0
Moonset 2010 Dec 21 08:06 304.0 ----

oh ya dont get Moon burn from all those Moon Beams.........enjoy