"Impossible" Lunar Eclipse Happening Tonight

Lunar eclipses happen quite often.  There was one in April, and there are two more occurring in the near future.  There's one happening early Wednesday morning, October 8th.  This one is going to be different, and strictly speaking, impossible.  For a brief period of time along the eastern U.S., it will be possible to view both the lunar eclipse and the sun rising at the same time.  Since a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is directly in between the moon and the sun, this shouldn't happen, and if there was no atmosphere, it wouldn't.  But thanks to refraction from the atmosphere as the sun rises and the moon sets, the light from both objects will be visible for several minutes while both in the sky.  The light from the moon will be hanging around after it has set, and light from the sun will appear before it has actually risen.

It promises to be a unique astronomical experience, and I'm actually going to be awake for it.  Unfortunately, it's probably going to be cloudy, so I won't be able to see it.  Which is annoying.  Thanks a lot, weather.

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