December 21st, was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in
the northern hemisphere, and the start of winter. Also, for the first
time since 1638, a total lunar eclipse took place on the same day as
the solstice, observable by people across the Americas and parts of
Asia. During a lunar eclipse, the Moon travels briefly through the
shadow of the Earth, and appears to dim and become a dark reddish
color. The coloration is due to sunlight filtering through the Earth's
atmosphere - the same conditions that create red sunsets - so an
observer standing on the Moon during a lunar eclipse would look up and
see the dark Earth surrounded by a red ring, a sunset around the globe.
Collected here are images of the eclipse, the solstice, and some of the
icy weather as winter officially begins.
Three
snowshoe hikers watch the almost full moon rising behind the
Weissfluhjoch mountain in Arosa, Switzerland, on Monday, Dec. 20, 2010.
(AP Photo/Keystone, Alessandro Della Bella)
The
Winter Solstice lunar eclipse, seen from Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest
Territories on December 21st, 2010 while the Earth's shadow completely
covered the moon.
Original here. (
Francis Anderson /
CC BY-ND)
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A
swan tries to break free of the ice on the frozen lake at the Fairburn
Ings Bird Sanctuary near Castleford, England on Tuesday Dec. 21, 2010,
as the deep freeze in the Britain continues. (AP Photo/John Giles-pa)
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Frost
clings to spiderwebs and the statue of Lord Alfred Tennyson as freezing
fog surrounds the tower of Lincoln Cathedral as plummeting temperatures
continue to grip the UK on December 20, 2010 in Lincoln, United
Kingdom. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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The
sun sets behind the Hanois Lighthouse near the Island of Guernsey off
the coast of Normandy, France on the winter solstice, 2010.
Original here. (
Angus MacRae /
CC BY)
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An
aerial view of the Tuscan city of Florence, Italy, a day after an
unusual heavy snow fall on Dec. 18, 2010. From left, Santa Maria del
Fiore Cathedral, also known as the Duomo, Orsanmichele Church, the
Palazzo Vecchio city hall. (AP Photo/Claudio Scaccini)
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Sky-gazers
take in the view from Chugach State Park near Anchorage, Alaska during
the lunar eclipse on Monday, Dec. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily
News, Marc Lester)
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The
shadow of the Earth is seen on the Moon during a total lunar eclipse
seen from Shanghai, China on December 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Aly Song)
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The
moon on its way to being totally eclipsed is seen with the Chrysler
Building in the foreground in New York City on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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On
a Reykjavik parking lot, a crowd of people brave the bitter cold to
gather around a telescope set up by the Amateur Astronomical Society to
observe the Moon and stars on December 21, 2010. (HALLDOR
KOLBEINS/AFP/Getty Images)
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The
eclipse of moon is seen behind a carving of a bear at a souvenir shop
in Shiraoi, on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on December 21,
2010. (REUTERS/Kyodo)
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With
the city lights of Anchorage, Alaska behind him, Drew Morris tries to
photograph the lunar eclipse from the Glen Alps trailhead area of
Chugach State Park on Monday, Dec. 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily
News, Marc Lester)
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The
shadow of the Earth falls across the face of the Moon, with a
six-pointed decorative star on a Christmas tree in the foreground,
above Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok during a full lunar
eclipse December 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Yuri Maltsev)
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This
combination of pictures shows the moon during a cycle of a total
eclipse as seen from Silver Spring, Maryland, on December 21, 2010.
(JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
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Chief
druid Arthur Pendragon (center) leads incantations during a winter
solstice ceremony at Stonehenge on Salisbury plain in southern England
December 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Kieran Doherty)
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A
couple kiss and embrace at a sunrise service at Stonehenge on December
22, 2010 in Wiltshire, England. Hundreds of people gathered at the
famous historic stone circle to celebrate the sunrise closest to the
Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. (Matt Cardy/Getty
Images)
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Deer
forage for food in Glen Clunie on December 21, 2010 in Braemar,
Scotland. Many parts of the UK are still experiencing severe disruption
in what is becoming widely predicted as one of the coldest winters on
record (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
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This
image made available by the University of Dundee shows a satellite view
of a snow covered United Kingdom taken from a NASA satellite named
Terra, Monday December 20. (AP Photo/NEODAAS/University of Dundee)
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A
Kashmiri boatman breaks the frozen surface of water to make way through
the Dal Lake in Srinagar, India, Monday, Dec. 20, 2010. (AP
Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
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Sister
Monica of the Benedictine abbey of the castle Dinklage, northwestern
Germany walks through the snow on December 21, 2010. (INGO
WAGNER/AFP/Getty Images)
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Snow-covered
bicycles stand in front of the central train station in Heidelberg,
Germany on December 20, 2010. (RONALD WITTEK/AFP/Getty Images)
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A woman begs for money during heavy snowfall in central Moscow, Russia on December 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Nikolay Korchekov)
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On
the outskirts of Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, schoolboys
dressed as Father Frost remove snow in a courtyard owned by veteran of
World War Two Nikolay Klipachev, 87, while the air temperature dipped
to about -35 degrees Celsius (-31 degrees Fahrenheit) on December 21,
2010. The youngsters took part in the action to draw attention to the
problems of elderly people. (REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin)
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Gerry
Morris rides a sled with 5-year-old Finn Dennis down a hill Hartley
Wintney heath, some 40 miles west of London, England on December 19,
2010. (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)
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A
swimmer dives into the icy water as the roof of a tower is reflected in
the Houhai Lake during winter in central Beijing, China on December 21,
2010. (REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic)
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