A full moon, lunar eclipse and comet all in one night - Feb. 10, 2017

[rdunk]

Well, there are activities going on in "the heavens" tomorrow night!!   

The Washington Post
By Blaine Friedlander February 8 at 12:25 PM

Turn Friday evening into a cosmic experience — a full moon, lunar eclipse and the chance to see a pale green comet as it streaks by Earth. Oh, and beg for clear skies.

This month's so-called Snow Moon will pass through Earth's outer shadow Friday evening. As it is shaded from the sun's light, it will turn varying shades of gray. Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth is optimally placed between the sun and the moon. With an added dose of serendipity, we're on our planet's primo dark side with front-row seats.

On the East Coast, the full moon climbs above the horizon around 5:30 p.m., just as it enters Earth's penumbral (outer) shadow and — ever so slowly — the lunar disk will start to dim and turn gray. Late afternoon twilight gives way to the evening dark skies. For practical purposes, the Eastern time zone will likely perceive the gray shading around 6:14 p.m., according to Alan MacRobert and Kelly Beatty, senior editors at Sky & Telescope magazine.

By the middle of the eclipse, at 7:44 p.m. Eastern time, the northern third of moon will be a noticeably darker gray, said astronomer Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory.

After mid-eclipse, the graying begins to yield to the moon's normal brightness. The moon fully leaves the penumbral shadow at 9:55 p.m.

Read more:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/02/08/a-full-moon-lunar-eclipse-and-comet-all-in-one-night-heres-how-to-watch-it-friday/?utm_term=.eb09c83c0499