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A guide to Friday's comet-eclipse-full-moon triple feature

The closest comet approach in decades will give skywatchers something to hunt for as a lunar eclipse obliges by darkening the light of the “snow moon.” Even if you aren’t a space nerd whose idea of a good time is craning your neck to stare into the vast nothingness of space on a frigid evening, this Friday the heavens will put on a show worth heading outdoors for. A penumbral lunar eclipse, a full “snow moon” and a comet will be spicing up the night sky February 10 in a rare convergence of such celestial happenings. We’ll start with our nearest neighbor. February brings the full moon known as the “snow moon” because this month in North America tends to see a lot of the white fluffy stuff. This snow moon will be special though because, well… we’ll all get in its way in a sense when the penumbral lunar eclipse takes place Friday. The eclipse will be at least partly visible from most but not all places on Earth (sorry Australia and Japan). The moment of greatest eclipse is at 4:43 p.m. PT and the eclipse will then dissipate until it completes a little over two hours later, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.”

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