December 18, 2024 03:01 AM

Comet, Snow Moon, And Eclipse Collide On Friday Night

Look up at the sky tonight, and you'll see three phenomena happening at the same time: a comet, Snow Moon, and lunar eclipse will show up starting tonight until tomorrow morning. People can watch starting from 7 PM to 8 PM Eastern Time or while Westerners can enjoy the three-peat show at 12:45 AM Friday.

The penumbral lunar eclipse is visible to all countries except Australia when the snow moon rises. Since it has always been hard to spot a penumbral eclipse, people can still detect Earth's shadows when the moon passes by.

The snow moon, which refers to the first full moon of the month, is usually brighter especially in the Northern Hemisphere, but Spaceweather reports that it will lack luster than it typically does. The peak of the first two phenomena will happen at 0 Longitude with North American and Latin American Countries see them happening on moonrise.

Europe will have the best seats in viewing the eclipse and the moon and so does the Middle East. Central Asia will have a faint visibility of the occurrence and get to witness it when the moon sets. Some Pacific Islands will have a hard time eyeing the sky for any sign of the phenomenon especially Australia.

If people are up to watch the whole night's experience, it would be best to stay up until 3 AM ET when a green comet passes by the Herculean constellation across the Eastern skies. Named as Comet 45P, it will pass Earth about 7.4 million miles near it.

People with binoculars or small telescopes have an advantage in watching for these three events tonight. If one misses the comet coming on Friday and Saturday night, fret not. It will be passing by throughout the whole month.

The comet will come back after five years to pass the Earth in 2022. Meanwhile, Spaceweather also reported that the sun is acting up with a new sunspot breaking through its surface.

Tags
Space, Space travel
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