For a few hours on the night of Dec. 20-21, the attention of tens of millions of people will be drawn skyward, where there will hang a mottled, coppery globe—our Moon.

January 24, 2009 is the 84th anniversary of the last total solar eclipse that was visible from New York City. On January 24, 1925, the southern portion of the Moon's umbral shadow passed across upper Manhattan, parts of Queens and all of the Bronx.

Joe Rao, longtime Hayden Associate, files a dispatch from his latest eclipse tour.