Be prepared, Burners and non-Burners alike: On Tuesday morning, August 28th, we'll get to experience an unusual celestial event: A full lunar eclipse.



The event begins 54 minutes past midnight PDT on August 28th when the Moon enters Earth's shadow. At first, there's little change. The outskirts of Earth's shadow are as pale as the Moon itself; an onlooker might not even realize anything is happening. But as the Moon penetrates deeper, a startling metamorphosis occurs. Around 2:52 am PDT, the color of the Moon changes from moondust-gray to sunset-red. This is totality, and it lasts for 90 minutes.

The eclipse will be visible from Australia, Japan, parts of Asia and most of the Americas, but not from Africa or Europe. Pacific observers are favored. On the west coast of the United States, the entire eclipse will unfold high in the post-midnight sky. On the east coast, totality will be truncated by sunrise.

What makes this so insanely cool is that in the stillness and clarity of the Black Rock desert, the heavens always seem so much closer and more alive anyway. So a mere full moon is a treat. But a lunar eclipse is going to *rock*.

The question, of course, is whether I can actually stay awake until 3am ...

I'll have to set an alarm, but I will not miss this!

We stayed up until 1:30am the other morning to walk to the local middle school and lay out in the football field to watch the Perseid Meteor shower. It was so worth it!