SkySafari Lite app temporarily free, tracks once-in-a-lifetime celestial event tomorrow

Tomorrow is a big day in astronomy circles: It marks the overlap of the winter solstice and a total lunar eclipse. So in between all that holiday shopping or taking care of travel preparations, you may want to take a moment to stop and bear witness as, from North America, we’ll be able to see the eclipse rendering the moon in holiday red for 3 hours+. (And for 72 minutes, the moon will be pitched in total darkness, as it hides in the Earth’s shadow.)

This is the first time these events have overlapped in 458 years, and it won’t happen again until 2094.

MIT grad Tim DeBenedictis doesn’t want you to miss this. That’s why he and developerSouthern Stars is offering his SkySafari Lite iPhone and iPad apps for free for this event, so you can track it.

A 2010 MacWorld Best of Show winner, SkySafari Lite not only predicts and displays this eclipse, but it does that with research-grade accuracy. It boasts the largest celestial database of any mobile planetarium app, and expert written descriptions.

You can grab SkySafari Lite for free now until December 21, 2010, by clicking here.

For a peek at what to expect, hit the demo vid below.

Happy winter solstice/lunar eclipse day!