SEATTLE - Wednesday night could be an interesting one in the skies over the Northwest. A total eclipse of the moon - the last one until 2010 - will be visible, and the U.S. military is planning to shoot down a damaged spy satellite.

An eclipse occurs when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light.

KING 5 Meteorologist Rich Marriott says we'll have some scattered showers Wednesday morning, but skies should clear in time for the eclipse.

"Shortly after the moon rises you will se a bite taken out of it as the shadow of the earth starts to slide over the man in the moon," said Marriott.

The full eclipse, known as "totality," will begin at 7:01 p.m. Seattle time and last about 50 minutes.

"The moon will be totally within the earth's shadow and will either look dark, or possibly coppery," said Marriott.

The coppery color is created when the sun's light goes through the earth's atmosphere.

NASA says viewers may also see some turquoise, which is caused when light passes through the ozone layer.

Eclipse researcher Dr. Richard Keen of the University of Colorado says the best time to see the turquoise is during the first and last minutes of totality.

Saturn and Regulus will also be visible on either side of the moon. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo.

Skywatchers viewing through a telescope will have the added treat of seeing Saturn's rings.

Mariott says the best place for viewing is some place that has a clear view of the eastern horizon.

"The shadow will start to slide off the moon at 7:48," he said.

Wednesday's event will be the last total lunar eclipse until Dec. 20, 2010. Last year there were two.

Also on Wednesday night, the Air Force plans to shoot down the damaged spy satellite known by its military designation, US 193.

The Bush administration and U.S. military officials have said the bus-sized satellite is carrying a fuel called hydrazine that could injure or even kill people who are near it when it hits the ground.

The military has said it hopes to smash the satellite just before it enters Earth's atmosphere, with a single missile fired from a Navy cruiser in the northern Pacific Ocean.

According to SpaceWeather.com, an air traffic advisory warns pilots to avoid a patch of ocean near Maui from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Seattle time). The Web site says this would center the missile strike on the darkness of Wednesday's eclipse, and possibly make debris visible from the west coast of North America.

Marriott says the debris would look like a lot of meteors.

US 193 was launched in December 2006. It lost power and its central computer failed almost immediately afterward.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.