This is the stuff heavens are made of! :)

"Consider this your reward after a long work week: The heavens are set to go wild Friday with a full snow moon lunar eclipse and the closest brush Earth has had with a comet in three decades.

Friday's event is being referred to as a "Full Snow Moon Penumbral Eclipse," because of an old tradition in which each month's moon was named to describe the time of year.

The eclipse is expected to start around 5:34 p.m. EST, with East Coast residents having the best view. Paul Cox, an astronomer at Slooh, told NBC News that East Coast residents should be able to see the spectacle "an hour or so into the eclipse when the moon has risen."

"We will watch as the Full Snow Moon gradually fades from its left-hand side as it's bathed in the Earth's penumbral shadow. The effect is subtle and is easier to see in a series of images than with the naked eye — but it is possible to see with the naked eye," Cox said.

The greatest eclipse will occur at 7:44 p.m. EST, making it easier for East Coasters to get the best views halfway through the four hour and 19 minute long eclipse.

Even after the eclipse is over, it will still be a busy night in the sky. Comet 45P is set to have its closest brush with Earth Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET, marking the nearest encounter in three decades, according to Slooh."

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/look-tonight-you-ll-see-comet-eclipse-full-moon-n719021

Oh, how fun! Hopefully it will stay clear for me to see here in Eastern NC.

Hope it does for you too, Kativicky!

Where I'm at we're in the middle of a snowfall. Clouds are thick. Hoping it clears up enough to see the Moon tonight. Last night it was clear.

I won't be seeing the full snow moon lunar eclipse or the comet from my vantage view tonight.

The skies are heavily overcast, and it's been freezing cold and snowy here all day long. It doesn't look like it's going to thaw or clear up anytime soon.

Hope some photographer or astronomer can get some good photos of it tonight, so can check it out later.

It's a snowy lunar moon alright!

Sadly, the comet won't be visible to anyone without a telescope. It's even really tough in binoculars (just not quite impossible).
We're overdue for a nice, bright comet!

If you can't see the eclipse due to clouds (or location -- we don't get much of it here on the west coast, only the very tail end), you can watch it streamed live:

http://www.space.com/19195-night-sky-planets-asteroids-webcasts.html

edit: the eclipse has already started. The livestream is coming from the Canary Islands, and a good 1/10th of the moon is already dark. :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2017 06:11PM by ificouldhietokolob.

Very cool.

Thanks for sharing the link. Right now they're livestreaming "earth's shadow" on the moon. A "Human Spirit correspondent" is giving her impressions of the lunar eclipse.

:)

I remember haleys comet that was pretty impressive without a telescope I probably spelled it wrong oh well. I think it was like 15 years ago or something.

My senior year astronomy class from college went out on the desert outside of Boise, Idaho in 1986 to watch that as it grazed the horizon in the early morning skies.

Our astronomy professor was like a grade school child. He was very full of wonder and enthusiasm, which was contagious! He had a huge telescope on a truck he'd brought with him, and the students from his class were watching through that, while still able to catch Halley's comet with binoculars and smaller telescopes in the area. It was a clear morning, skies wise. We could barely see it in the early morning sky (it was still pretty dark,) crossing the edge of the horizon in the distance. It was pretty exciting nonetheless to be there. From the distance it was really more like a glimpse of Halley's tail as it crossed over the horizon.

Here's a slide show of some good photos from 1986, compliments of YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKrK0GS3gTU



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2017 08:22PM by Amyjo.

Very nice wasn't there a comet in the 90s or early 2000s not sure the name think it started with a "g" .

That was the Hale-Bopp comet, probably most famously known for being connected to the mass suicide of the Heaven's Gate cult.

I remember looking u and seeing it the first tie I went to a concert at late afternoon. It was gorgeous and otherworldly.

I remember it was in the sky for a while atleast a week or maybe longer that's why I remember it.

INNNNNNN ~ on flat earth thred ~

Hahaha not that type of thread only I am aloud to start those threads

No luck there for me. It's snowing like crazy today.

It never fails. Every time something interesting is going on up in the sky, it's cloudy here.

mormonism : full moon, empty head

Clouds suck.