Party at the planetarium! Bash Monday for winter solstice, total lunar eclipse

The sun, the moon and the Earth will align for a sky-gazing good time at the Hayden Planetarium Monday night as it hosts a winter solstice party from 6:30 to 8 p.m. just hours before a total lunar eclipse! The eclipse will begin at 1:33 a.m. Tuesday morning and last until 5:01 a.m.  Totality will begin at 2:41 a.m. If you miss it, the next total lunar eclipse will happen April 14, 2014.

What makes this week's eclipse even more interesting is that it falls on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. This heavenly combo hasn't happened since 1638, and won't occur again until ... wait for it .. 2094.