Friday night sky filled with eclipse, full moon, comet

During a penumbral eclipse, watchers may notice a dark shading on the moon.

What is a snow moon?

Since the full moon occurs once every month, each iteration has been given a unique name tied to the time of year (the practice originated with the Native Americans).

You might have also heard it referred to as the Hunger Moon – due to the struggle of some tribes to find food this month.

Full moon at Glastonbury Tor on January 17, 2017. Maximum eclipse occurs at 7:44 p.m., when the full moon is 25 degrees above the horizon.

About 35% of all eclipses are of the penumbral type. It takes place as the satellite passes through our planet’s penumbra. There is never a dark bite taken out of the moon, as in a partial eclipse. Luckily, this Friday’s eclipse will provide a pleasant balance to all that forward-thinking and make for a very spiritually grounded evening. It’s less striking than the unmistakable total eclipse, when the entire moon is swallowed in the “umbra”, Earth’s interior shadow. These all align in the middle.

Act two starts right at the climax of the first, when the moon starts to dip into the shadow the sun casts behind the Earth. Naval Observatory. The eclipse will end about 9 p.m. The eclipse will be most visible at 12.43am, and will last till 2.52am on 11 February.

Don’t worry if staying up until 3 a.m.is a bit too far past your bedtime, you’ll get another chance to see Comet 45P fly by Earth in 2022. Comet 45P will then travel through the constellations Northern Crown, the Herdsman, Boötes’ Hunting Dogs, and Ursa Major. It is considered so because it has a predictable path.

Named after the astronomers who discovered it in 1948, 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková is a mass of rock, dust, water and ice that should be visible to the naked eye as a small, fuzzy ball just before sunrise.

Just when you thought you hit the motherlode of celestial events, there’s more! However, one may also intervene during another. It is happening during a full moon this time around, though (more on that below)! Binoculars or a telescope will be helpful and the comet should be recognizable by a bright blue-green head with a tail. Binoculars and telescopes will help in the search.