It's a Bird, It's a Plane....No, It's A Lunar Eclipse and a Spy Satellite!

It's been an active few nights above Washington, and tonight's sky should be no different. Early Tuesday morning a meteor streaked across the sky over Eastern Washington. People as far away as Oregon and Idaho reported seeing strange bright lights and hearing a sonic boom. A hospital surveillance camera in Spokane caught the meteor on film, which has become the top watched video on CNN over the past 24 hours.

Tonight's sky should be just as active, though not nearly as much of a surprise. The last visible full lunar eclipse until 2010 takes place tonight and, weather permitting, should be in clear view for Seattle. The full eclipse will begin at roughly 7pm and should last nearly 50 minutes. Moon watchers are in for an extra treat, as Saturn should be visible too.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for any other foreign objects flying through the sky, as the US Air Force plans to missile a malfunctioning spy satellite tomorrow night as well. The military hopes it can destroy the satellite just before it enters the Earth's atmosphere--before an unscheduled landing could cause any damage, injury, or stealing of top-secret technology. There is a warning to pilots to avoid airspace and a patch of ocean around Maui from 6:30 to 9pm Seattle time, during the estimated time of destruction. This should place the explosion during the peak of the lunar eclipse, and it could be visible throughout the West Coast. For those of you in Spokane, the debris should look like many meteors similar to the one that you saw on Tuesday morning.

We're hoping Seattlest contributor, cbarnes has his telephoto lens out again tonight!