Today we don’t have much of a special theme, kids.  Sorry, but it’s been kind of a dead week, technologically speaking.  BUT, we do have something cool that money can’t buy.

If you live in the Pacific Rim area of the world (Western North/South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand) or most of the rest of the US and Asia, you’ll get to see something pretty awesome Monday night/Tuesday morning.  It’s even worth waking the kids up, because you’ll get to see a lunar eclipse.  Unfortunately, Europe, Africa, and Western Asia will miss the whole thing, but those of us on the Eastern Seaboard will still get to see some of the action.  Sorry, Europe.  At least you’ve got the iPhone now to hold you over, right?

Here’s what to look for and how to look for it, from MSNBC and Space.com:

The eclipse will begin when the moon enters the faint outer portion, or penumbra, of the Earth’s shadow about an hour before it begins moving into the umbra. The penumbra, however, is all but invisible to the eye until the moon becomes deeply immersed in it.  Look for a slight hint of shading or smudginess on the eastern (left) edge of the lunar disk about 40 minutes after the moon first enters the penumbral shadow. 

The most obvious part of the eclipse will be when the moon is passing through the dark umbral shadow of the Earth.  On this occasion, the full moon will track just to the south of the center of the Earth’s umbra; deep path almost through the center of the umbra which will result in a total phase lasting an unusually long 1 hour 30 minutes (the maximum possible is 1 hour 47 minutes).

Because some of the sunlight striking our planet is diffused and scattered by our atmosphere, the Earth’s shadow is not entirely dark.  Enough of this light reaches the moon to give it a faint orange or reddish glow even when it’s totally eclipsed.

Wake the kids up for it.  Generally, every year I drag out of bed to watch the Leonid meteors or lunar eclipses and stuff like that, and while I may grouse, it’s always worth it in the end because it’s things like this that can fill a kid with a love of science and nature.  Plus it’s cool.

I know it’s short notice, but totality begins at about 4:30 am Eastern Time this morning, so set your alarm clocks ahead of time.  If you missed it, I’m sure you’ll be able to find some awesome video online while you prepare yourself for the next lunar eclipse on February 21, 2008.