Eclipse alert, Indian Summer next week?

The early bird gets the astronomical worm Wednesday morning. Or in this case, a total lunar eclipse of the hunter's moon.

Eclipse times for Minnesota:

• 4:14 a.m. Partial eclipse begins

• 5:25 a.m. total eclipse begins

• 6:24 a.m. total eclipse ends

• 7:35 a.m. partial eclipse ends

This one will be a rare selenelion eclipse, with both the moon and sun visible at the same time over a big chunk of North America at sunrise/moonset.

What exactly is a selenelion eclipse you ask? Here's a nice description from Jessica Orwig at Business Insider.

A selenelion occurs only when a lunar eclipse happens at about the same time as sunrise, allowing observers to see both an eclipsed moon setting and a sun rising simultaneously. Just because you can see the lunar eclipse does not mean you can see the selenelion, however. So, check to see if the time of your sunrise overlaps with your moonset and then keep a watchful eye on both the east and west horizons. This will be the case for many located on the east coast of the Americas.

According to simple geometry, we should not be able to see both the moon and the sun simultaneously during this eclipse configuration. However, Earth's atmosphere bends the light from the sun and moon, making them appear higher in the sky than they actually are.

The refraction of sunrises and sunsets through the earth's atmosphere may also lend a "blood red" color to the moon during totality.

Indian Summer next week?

The medium range models are still a bit in flux for next week, but the trend for milder days seems to be on the winning side. If the pattern holds, we could see several days int he 60s next week. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecast System hints at a trend that could support 70 degrees by late next week.

Stay tuned!