This just in from a loyal OTBKB reader about the lunar eclipse tonight. He’s setting up on Seventh Avenue. Read below for more details.

There’ll be a lunar eclipse visible from the Northeast this evening. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen him, but there’s an amateur astronomer who frequently sets up his high-powered telescope on PPW or on Eighth Ave.

He offers passers-by a view of the cosmos, with a patient explanation of what you’re seeing. Through his telescope, we’ve seen the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter.

This evening, he’ll be set up on Ninth St., apparently on Seventh Ave., to show off the lunar eclipse, which begins around 8:45 and will be visible until 11pm.

What is a lunar eclipse? Let’s get some help from Wikipedia:

A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, the Moon is always full the night of a lunar eclipse. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon’s location relative to its orbital nodes.