West Michigan – A full moon, partial lunar eclipse, and a comet are coming together for viewing Friday night into Saturday.
For the lunar eclipse, the moon will be full Friday night. And this month it’s nicknamed the “snow” moon.
According to the Farmers’ Almanac, full moon names date back to Native Americans in the northern and eastern U.S. Each full moon has its own name.
Calling February’s full moon the “snow” moon is right on target: On average, February is the United States’ snowiest month, according to data from the National Weather Service.
Comet 45P, meanwhile, will zoom past Earth early Saturday morning. It will be an extremely close encounter as these things go, passing within 7.7 million miles (12.4 million kilometers) of Earth.
If the weather permits, skywatchers will also see a partial lunar eclipse Friday night during the full moon.
Not as spectacular — or noticeable — as a total lunar eclipse, this rather subtle phenomenon occurs when the moon moves through the outer part of Earth’s shadow, according to EarthSky.org.
The outer shadow of the Earth blocks part — but not all — of the sun’s rays from reaching the moon, making it appear slightly darker than usual
The eclipse will be visible from Europe, Africa, western Asia and eastern North and South America, NASA reports.
Right now, we should see some clearing for Friday night in West Michigan, but things could change for the event.
